Category: Stock Market News

The American Petroleum Institute reported Tuesday that U.S. crude supplies rose 5.7 million barrels for the week ended March 2, according to sources. The API data also showed a decline of 4.5 million barrels in gasoline stockpiles, while inventories of distillates saw a climb of 1.5 million barrels, sources said. Supply data from the Energy Information Administration will be released Wednesday morning. Analysts polled by S&P Global Platts expect the EIA to report a climb of 2.5 million barrels for crude inventories. They also forecast declines of 500,000 barrels for gasoline and 1.6 million barrels for distillate supplies. April crude was at $62.30 a barrel in electronic trading, down from the settlement of $62.60 on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

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Bojangles’ Inc. shares rose more than 8% late Tuesday after the fast-food company beat quarterly earnings and sales forecasts. Bojangles’ said it earned $48.8 million, or $1.27 a share, in the fourth quarter, compared with $9.8 million, or 26 cents a share, in the year-ago period. Adjusted for one-time items, the company earned $8.7 million, or 23 cents a share, compared with $10.6 million, or 28 cents a share, a year ago. Revenue rose 6.2% to $148.1 million, from $139.4 million a year ago. Comparable-restaurant sales decreased 3.1%. Analysts polled by FactSet had expected earnings of 18 cents a share on sales of $147 million. The same analysts had expected comparable-restaurant sales to fall 3.7%. Bojangles’ said it expects sales between $550 million to $560 million in 2018, and adjusted per-share earnings of 64 cents to 72 cents for the year. The analysts surveyed by FactSet expect 2018 sales of $547 million and EPS of 75 cents a share for the year. Bojangles’ shares ended the regular trading day down 6.4%.

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Autodesk Inc. shares shot up in the extended session Tuesday after the company beat Wall Street earnings and revenue expectations. Autodesk shares jumped 9.2% after hours. The company reported fourth-quarter net losses of $173.5 million, or 79 cents a share, compared with losses of $173.4 million, or 78 cents a share, in the year-ago period. Adjusted losses were 9 cents a share. Revenue rose to $553.8 million from $478.8 million in the year-ago period. Analysts surveyed by FactSet had estimated adjusted losses of 11 cents a share on revenue of $545 million. The company said it expected first-quarter adjusted earnings of 1 cent to 4 cents a share on revenue of $550 million to $560 million, under the new accounting standard ASC 606. Autodesk stock has gained 45% this year, with the S&P 500 index rising 15%.

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Oil prices settled a few cents higher on Tuesday to notch a third-straight session climb, buoyed by weakness in the U.S. dollar, continued declines in OPEC production and winter weather on the East Coast. Pressure from expectations for a weekly climb in U.S. crude stockpiles and rising domestic production, however, nearly offset the price gains. April WTI crude tacked on 3 cents, or less than 0.1%, to settle at $62.60 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

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Shares of General Electric Co. rallied 1.1% in afternoon trade, putting it on track to post a third-straight gain. The last time the stock rose for three-straight days was the three-session streak ending Jan. 11, 2018. Following the end of that streak, GE announced a $6.2 billion after-tax charge related to its insurance portfolio. In the current streak, the stock has run up 4.0% since it closed last Thursday at $14.02, the lowest close since July 6, 2010. Earlier Tuesday, GE’s transportation business announced announced the expansion of multimodal data connectivity capabilities with a collaboration with project44. GE’s stock has now shed 16.5% year to date, making it the worst performer among Dow Jones Industrial Average components for that time frame, while the Dow has gained 0.6% over the same time.

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Facebook Inc. has been sued by BlackBerry Ltd. over patent infringement related to several of BlackBerry’s mobile messaging-related technologies, according to court documents filed Tuesday. BlackBerry stock is up nearly 1% to $12.51 in midday trading; Facebook stock is up a fraction to $180.60. The complaint filed by BlackBerry asks for an unspecified amount in damages as well as a court order preventing Facebook from continuing to use the seven main technologies brought up by the lawsuit. A BlackBerry spokeswoman said in an emailed statement that it has a “strong claim Facebook has infringed on our intellectual property, and after several years of dialogue, we also have an obligation to our shareholders to pursue appropriate legal remedies.” For its part, Facebook said it plans to contest the claims: “Blackberry’s suit sadly reflects the current state of its messaging business. Having abandoned its efforts to innovate, Blackberry is now looking to tax the innovation of others. We intend to fight,” Facebook deputy general counsel Paul Grewal said in a statement. Facebook stock has gained 31% in the past year, as the S&P 500 index rose 15%. Blackberry stock has gained 78% in the last 12 months.

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Target Corp. said Tuesday that it is expanding its delivery and shipping services and raising its minimum wage to $12 in 2018, part of the effort to raise the minimum wage to $15 by 2020. Two-day shipping will now be available on hundreds of thousands of items. Drive Up, a service that brings online orders out to shoppers who drive to their local store for pickup, will expand from 50 to nearly 1,000 stores by the end of the year. A service that delivers in-store purchases to customers’ homes the same day will expand from four New York City stores to all five boroughs and select stores in Boston, Chicago, San Francisco and Washington DC. The retailer also plans to expand its same-day Shipt service to the majority of Target stores and all major markets by the 2018 holiday season. And Target Restock, which delivers overnight, will expand to 40 markets, covering about three-quarters of the U.S. population. Target will open about 30 stores this year, and plans to remodel more than 300 around the country, with a focus on large metropolitan areas. Target is hosting its financial community event on Tuesday and announced earnings during the premarket hours. Target shares are down 5.4% in Tuesday trading, but are up 26.7% for the past year, outpacing the S&P 500 index , which is up 14.6% for the last 12 months.

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The New York Stock Exchange was fined $14 million by the Securities and Exchange Commission and charged with regulatory failures in connection with multiple episodes, including several disruptive market events. According to the SEC’s order, the violations include erroneously implementing a market-wide regulatory halt, negligently misrepresenting stock prices as “automated” despite extensive system issues ahead of a total shutdown of two of the exchanges, and applying price collars during unusual market volatility on Aug. 24, 2015, without a rule in effect to permit them. The SEC also said the NYSE broke rules on business continuity and disaster recovery. NYSE, NYSE Arca, and NYSE American — all units of Intercontinental Exchange — neither admitted nor denied the findings.

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U.S. prosecutors have asked a federal judge to sentence former drug-company executive Martin Shkreli to at least 15 years in prison, saying in a memo Tuesday that Shkreli has shown no remorse and has put profits and his public image before all else, according to media reports. Shkreli, convicted in August of defrauding hedge-fund investors, is to be sentenced on Friday, and his lawyers, saying he was a changed man, had asked for a sentence of less than two years. Shkreli on Monday was ordered to forfeit nearly $7.4 million in assets, including exclusive music albums and a Picasso painting. Shkreli first came to fame for buying the rights to a life-saving drug and then immediately raising the price to $750 a pill from $13.50.

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Gold prices climbed Tuesday to mark their highest settlement in two-and-a-half weeks. A sizable decline in the U.S. dollar, as concerns surrounding a potential trade war and tensions between North and South Korea appeared to ease, provided a lift to dollar-denominated prices of the yellow metal. April gold climbed $15.30, or 1.2%, to settle at $1,335.20 an ounce. That was the lowest finish since Feb. 16, according to FactSet data.

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