Category: Stock Market News

British households are increasingly grappling with debt at a time the U.K. economy is showing signs of slowing, Moody’s Investors Service warned Monday. “Household debt is high and still growing, leaving consumers vulnerable to an economic downturn, while higher inflation, weaker wage growth and levels of indebtedness leaves those in lower-income brackets the most exposed,” wrote Greg Davies, a research analyst at Moody’s. Delinquencies and charge-offs for credit card asset-backed securities, in particular, should increase if unemployment rises, Moody’s said in a note outlining its downgraded outlook for four out of five U.K. consumer-structured finance sectors. However, “we have maintained the stable outlook on U.K. prime [residential mortgage-backed securities] because this mortgage market is robust, with borrowers that have strong repayment capacity and have benefited the most from the recent decline in the interest rates”, said Davies. Moody’s warning came separately from June credit data from the Bank of England showing total borrowing surpassed £200 billion ($236 billion).

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Ride-hailing company Lyft Inc. has added Valerie Jarrett, former senior advisor to President Obama, as a board member, the company announced Monday. Before advising Obama and working as assistant to the President for public engagement and intergovernmental affairs, Jarrett served as a leader on private and nonprofit boards and worked in Chicago politics. Other Lyft board members include the company’s co-founders, Logan Green and John Zimmer, investor Ben Horowitz of Andreessen Horowitz and General Motors President Dan Ammann.

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Citigroup Inc. was downgraded and Well Fargo & Co. was upgraded at BMO Capital, as analyst James Fotheringham said investors should close the “pair trade” he had been recommending for the past 2 1/2 years, in which he was bullish on Citigroup and bearish on Wells Fargo. Fotheringham cut his rating on Citigroup to market perform, after being at outperform since February 2015, and raised his rating on Wells Fargo to market perform from underperform. Fotheringham said the “valuation gap” between Citigroup’s stock, which had a discounted valuation, and Wells Fargo shares, which had a premium valuation, “has narrowed appropriately” in his view. Following results of the Federal Reserve’s comprehensive capital analysis review (CCAR) and Citigroup’s successful investor day, “we do not see further catalysts to support this trade.” Citigroup’s stock rose 0.6% in morning trade and Wells’s shares tacked on 0.5%. Year to date, Citi’s stock has run up 14% and Wells’s stock has lost 2.8%. Meanwhile, the SPDR Financial Select Sector ETF has gained 7.7% year to date and the S&P 500 has climbed 10.6%.

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Shares of Snap Inc. were sinking 4% Monday morning on the first trading day after a lockup expiration. Under the 150-day lockup expiration, some investors and insiders were allowed to sell shares for the first time, with estimates forecasting 957 million shares that could hit the market. Shares of Snap have fallen 26% in the past month, while the S&P 500 has gained 2%.

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U.S. stock-market indexes opened modestly higher on Monday, with the Dow industrials rising to a new record shortly after. All three main indexes were on track to book solid monthly gains. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up by 63 points, or 0.3%, to 21,893. The S&P 500 gained 5 points, or 0.2%, to 2,477, hovering near record levels. The Nasdaq Composite index advanced 20 points, or 0.3%, to 6,395. Among early movers, Dynavax Technologies Corp. surged 80% after a Food and Drug Administration advisory committee said the safety data for its hepatitis B vaccination supported its approval.

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Facebook Inc. was downgraded to sell from hold at Pivotal Research Group on valuation concerns. Brian Wieser, lead analyst on the report, said they have seen the stock rise “dramatically,” over the year, with shares 19% above their target price of $140 on Friday, but that risks have increased along with it. The risks include regulatory pressure from the European Commission, if the group turns its attention from Alphabet Inc. [S: GOOGL] to Facebook, viewability of ads on the platform for advertisers and what he sees as a saturated market for digital advertising, limiting growth. While he expects Facebook to grow its business through its core service and later with Messenger and WhatsApp, he feels the stock is “simply too expensive.” He kept a $140 price target. Shares of Facebook were down less than 1% in premarket trade Monday. Facebook shares have gained 15% in the past three months, compared with the S&P 500 , which has gained 4%.

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French actress Jeanne Moreau, star of Francois Truffaut’s “Jules et Jim” and Louis Malle’s “Ascenseur pour l’echafaud,” has died at the age of 89, media reports said Monday. Moreau, who was richly celebrated in France as a grande dame of post-war cinema, was the winner of best actress prize at Cannes. She worked with Orson Welles on films including “Chimes at Midnight” and took starring roles in a number of films of the French new wave. Moreau was found dead at her home in Paris, according to French news agency AFP.

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Shares of American Airlines Group Inc. climbed 1.2% in premarket trade Monday, after Cowen & Co. turned bullish on the air carrier, citing a “compelling” earnings outlook for the next year. Analyst Helane Becker raised her rating to outperform after being at market perform since Jan. 4. She raised her stock price target to $57, which is 13% above Friday’s closing price of $50.49, from $55. “We are upgrading the shares based on the view that American will drive pre-tax income higher heading into 2018 with product segmentation and a more stable cost structure,” Becker wrote in a note to clients. “We believe American is less impacted by fare battles between United [Continental Holdings] and Spirit [Airlines] and believe the September investor day is a catalyst to drive the shares higher.” The stock has rallied 8.1% year to date through Friday, while the NYSE Arca Airline Index has edged up 0.7% and the S&P 500 has gained 10.4%.

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Contura Energy, Inc. set terms Monday for its initial public offering of up to $162 million. The coal mining company set a price range of $23 to $27 per share with 6,000,000 shares sold by selling stock holders. The stockholders have also granted the underwriters a 30-day option to buy an additional 900,000 shares of stock. Shares are expected to trade on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol “CTRA.” Citigroup, Jefferies, Credit Suisse and UBS Investment Bank were the underwriters on the offering.

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Intercept Pharmaceuticals Inc. shares dropped 2.3% in premarket trade Monday despite the company reporting second-quarter profit and revenue beats and news that a mid-stage clinical trial met its primary endpoint. The company said it had a loss of $86.56 million, or a loss of $3.46 per share, after a loss of $77.30 million, or a loss of $3.14 per share in the year-earlier period. The FactSet consensus was for a loss per share of $3.65. Revenue rose to $30.9 million from $5.5 million in the year-earlier period, above FactSet expectation of $27.5 million. Intercept Pharma also said early Monday that its mid-stage clinical trial for its obeticholic acid therapy in the rare liver disease primary sclerosing cholangitis met its primary endpoint. Full results will be shared at an upcoming scientific conference, the company said. The trial, which enrolled 77 patients with the rare disease, has an ongoing two-year safety extension phase. Intercept Pharma shares have surged 20.2% to $135.03 per share over the last three months, compared with a 3.7% rise in the S&P 500 .

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