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Venus Williams defeated Britain’s Johanna Konta in straight sets on Thursday to advance to her first Wimbledon final since 2009. The 37-year old tennis player won her semifinal match 6-4, 6-2. She’s slated to face Spanish star Garbine Muguruza in the women’s championship match to be played on Saturday at 9 a.m. Eastern Time.
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European Central Bank President Mario Draghi is scheduled to address the Federal Reserve’s Jackson Hole conference in August, marking his first speech at the high-profile gathering in three years, The Wall Street Journal reported, citing a person familiar with the matter. The speech is expected to provide a further sign the ECB has growing confidence in the eurozone economy, the report said. The speech would come less than two weeks ahead of the ECB’s Sept. 7 policy meeting. According to the report, ECB officials say the bank is likely to signal at that meeting that its asset-buying program will be gradually wound down in 2018.
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Data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration on Thursday showed that domestic supplies of natural gas rose by 57 billion cubic feet for the week ended July 7. Analysts surveyed by S&P Global Platts forecast a build of 59 billion cubic feet. Total stocks now stand at 2.945 trillion cubic feet, down 289 billion cubic feet from a year ago, but 172 billion cubic feet above the five-year average, the government said. August natural gas added 1.2 cents, or 0.4%, from Wednesday’s settlement to $2.997 per million British thermal units. It traded at $2.982 before the data.
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The embattled technology sector is enjoying a mini resurgence, with Thursday gains putting the group on track for its best weekly rise in more than seven months. A popular way to bet on the group, the tech-oriented Technology Select Sector SPDR ETF is on pace to book a gain of 2.6%, which would mark the best weekly rise for the ETF since the period ended Dec. 9 when tech shares soared 4.2%, according to FactSet data. Since many tech giants, including Amazon.com Inc. , Nvidia Corp. hit recent peaks June 8, the sector started to give up gains that had taken it to records, as Wall Street investors raised questions about valuations. However, traders may now be trying to make opportunistic purchases, with the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index on pace for its fifth straight up day, marking its longest streak of wins in about six weeks. More broadly, the S&P 500 index , where tech has the largest weighting among the benchmark’s 11 sectors, is looking at a weekly gain of 0.8%. On the day, the S&P 500 is trading roughly flat at 2,444, the Dow Jones Industrial Average is little changed at 21,527, while the Nasdaq Composite Index also is steady at 6,262.
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Global spending on information technology in 2017 is now expected to rise 2.4% above last year to $3.48 trillion, up from a previous forecast of 1.4% growth, according to research and advisory firm Gartner Inc. . The increased outlook is a result of the U.S. dollar’s decline against many foreign currencies, Gartner said. The U.S. Dollar Index , which values the dollar against a basket of currencies of many major trading partners, has declined 6.3% year to date. The biggest growth is expected to come from spending on enterprise software, which is seen rising 7.6% to $351 million. The most spending is projected to be on IT services, which is seen rising 3.1% to $922 billion. For 2018, Gartner expects global IT spending to increase 3.5% to $3.60 trillion. The SPDR Technology Select Sector ETF was up 0.3% in morning trade, putting it on track for a fifth-straight gain. It has rallied 16.7% year to date, while the S&P 500 has gained 9.3%.
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The Dow Jones Industrial Average was trading slightly higher, but enough to put it in record territory, on Thursday, supported by a 1.5% climb in shares of Wal-Mart Stores Inc. . The retail giant’s climb, which contributed about 7 points to the price-weighted blue-chip indicator, came as rival retailer Target Corp. raised its guidance for fiscal second-quarter earnings, providing a rare boost for embattled brick-and-mortar retailers. The S&P 500’s consumer-discretionary sector, which includes many popular retailers, was among the best performers of the S&P 500’s 11 sectors, up 0.3%. The S&P 500, overall, was trading up 0.1% in early trade, with the Nasdaq Composite Index up 0.2%, on pace for its fifth straight advance.
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U.S. stocks opened marginally higher on Thursday, with the main indexes hovering near record levels a day after dovish comments from Federal Reserve Chairwoman Janet Yellen encouraged investors to dive back into the stock market. The S&P 500 was up by a point, or less than 0.1%, to 2,444. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was flat at 21,530. The Nasdaq Composite index ticked 3 points, or less than 0.1%, higher to 6,265. Among early movers, Target Corp. jumped after raising sales and profit outlooks for the second quarter.
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Cargill Inc., the privately-held agricultural and commodity trading company, reported Thursday a fiscal fourth-quarter net profit that rose to $347 million from $15 million a year ago, while adjusted operating earnings were $460 million, compared with last year’s adjusted operating loss of $19 million. Revenue rose 4% to $28.3 billion. The company said results for the animal nutrition and protein business, the biggest contributor to operating earnings, were “up significantly,” given “exceptional performance” in global protein. The second-biggest contributor to earnings, food ingredients and applications, also posted improved results. “The structural improvements we’ve made, as well as favorable conditions in some markets, have yielded strong results,” said Chief Executive David MacLennan. “Although the environment continuously changes, we feel good about our underlying progress.”
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Ahead of theater chain Regal Entertainment Group’s second-quarter earnings release, set for July 26, B. Riley analyst Eric Wold is lowering profit and revenue expectations as overall box office trends have continued to weaken. Wold is cutting his revenue estimate to $765 million from $801 million, while analysts tracked by FactSet expected revenue to hit $770 million. And Wold anticipates per-share earnings to come in at 19 cents, in line with FactSet consensus, and down from an earlier forecast of 29 cents. “Since we last made changes to our exhibitor models on June 5, domestic industry box office trends during the second quarter weakened further and ended with a decline of 3.5% vs. our expectation, at that time, for a low single-digit gain,” he wrote in a note to investors. While the decline in box office should equate to an industry-wide per screen box office loss of about 4.5%, Wold said he assumes Regal outperformed the industry thanks, in part, to its cinema enhancements. Wold also believes that investors have overreacted to the weak blip in domestic box office and concerns surrounding premium video on demand. In the last three months Regal shares have declined nearly 12%. And it’s not alone. Shares of Cinemark Holdings Inc. have dropped nearly 11%, AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc. shares are down more than 29% and IMAX Corp. shares are down more than 33%. “The movie industry’s history is littered with periods of box office underperformance and outperformance and Q2 is no different,” Wold wrote. “We see no reason to try to extrapolate larger issues around movie-going demand after just one quarter or to believe that Q2 is going to spur drastic release window changes for the industry.” In the year to date Regal shares have fallen nearly 6%, while the S&P 500 index is up 9%.
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Applied Optoelectronics Inc. said Thursday that second-quarter profit and sales should exceed expectations, with the provider of fiber-optic access network products citing an improvement in manufacturing costs and expansion in capacity. The company expects adjusted earnings per share of $1.31 to $1.36, above the FactSet consensus of $1.15. Revenue is expected to be about $117.3 million, above its previous guidance of $106.0 million to $112.0 million. The stock was halted for news until 9:00 a.m. ET. It was down 0.3% just before the halt. The stock has more than tripled year to date through Wednesday, while the S&P 500 has gained 9.1%.
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From:: Stock Market News