Category: Stock Market News

U.S. stocks rallied on Wednesday, fueled by a surge in financial and tech shares, which helped Wall Street to partially shake off Tuesday’s sharp fall. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index enjoyed a run deep into positive territory, helping it cut into Tuesday’s 100-point drop, and marking its best daily rise since Nov. 7, when it surged 2.4%, according to FactSet data. On Wednesday, the Nasdaq rose 1.4% to 6,234. The S&P 500 index climbed 0.9% at 2,440, representing the benchmark’s best daily rise since April 24. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.7% at 21,454. Those moves come a day after equities saw their worst selloff in more than a month on the back of doubts about President Donald Trump’s pro-growth agenda. The small-cap Russell 2000 nearly closed at a record, finishing up about 1.5% on the day, and highlighting the broad-based nature of the rally. Helping to support a bid for bank shares was a rise in government bond yields, with the 10-year Treasury note yield at 2.22%. Those gains were aided by European Central Bank officials attempting to tamp down the market’s bearish reaction to ECB President Mario Draghi’s comments on Tuesday, which were interpreted as hawkish, pushing the euro and yields globally markedly higher.

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Oil prices settled higher Wednesday, finding support from the largest weekly decline in total U.S. crude production year to date, even as some analysts dubbed the fall as temporary and domestic supplies edged higher. Total U.S. crude production fell by 100,000 barrels a day last week, according to the Energy Information Administration. That’s when Tropical Storm Cindy disrupted output in the Gulf of Mexico. Domestic crude supplies rose 100,000 barrels for the week, contrary to expectations for a sizable decline. August WTI crude tacked on 50 cents, or 1.1%, to settle $44.74 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

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Hecla Mining Co. said Friday that, while it expects its operating mines to perform in line with second-quarter estimates, the silver and gold miner expects revenue of $127 million to $137 million, below the FactSet consensus of $145.8 million. Hecla expects Q2 adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) of $38 million to $48 million, compared with the FactSet consensus of $52.5 million. Net losses for the quarter ending Friday are expected to be $2.0 million to $8.0 million. Separately, the company estimates the Q2 realized price for gold at $1,235 per ounce to $1,265 per ounce, while July gold futures were last up 0.2% at $1,247.90. The company estimates realized silver prices at $16.50 per ounce to $17.30 per ounce, while July futures were up 1.1% at $16.77 per ounce. Hecla’s stock resumed trade to be up 1%, compared with the pre-halt gain of 1.5%. It has lost 0.2% year to date, while the VanEck Vectors Gold Miners ETF has gained 7.0% and the S&P 500 has climbed 9.0%.

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Shares of Fenix Parts Inc. plummeted 64% to a record low in relatively active afternoon trade Wednesday, after the recycler and resaler of automotive products said its stock would be delisted from the Nasdaq starting Thursday because it has been unable to file its 2016 annual report in a timely manner. Volume was 2.8 million shares, compared with the full-day average of about 141,000 shares. The stock is expected to begin trading on OTC Markets Group’s OTC Pink market after the delisting. Separately, Fenix announced an amendment to the agreement with its creditors, in which the lenders will refrain until Aug. 31 from exercising rights with respect to Fenix’s noncompliance with certain financial covenants. The agreement also allows the company to add the quarterly interest payment due for the second quarter to the principal amount of debt, and to defer a principal payment of $250,000 that was due Friday to the end of August. The stock, which went public on May 14, 2015 at an IPO price of $8, and closed as high as $11.51 on June 3, 2015, traded recently at 57 cents. It has lost 80% year to date, while the S&P 500 has gained 9%.

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Instinet analyst Michael Wood raised his price target on Stanley Black & Decker Inc. to $150 from $5 on Wednesday, and said he expects the company to benefit strongly from its acquisition of Craftsman and troubles at Sears Holdings Corp. . “Craftsman maintains the highest perceived value of any tools brand, according to a study conducted by YouGov,” Wood wrote in a note. “We believe Craftsman sales have been limited by Sears’ diminishing retail presence and expect Stanley to quickly ramp both retail partnerships and domestic and sourced capacity.” Stanley is currently working “feverishly” to expand capacity at its existing plans and sign contracts for Craftsman, he said. The first production lin is expected to be online by year-end, followed by a flagship Craftsman plant by 2020, he said. In the meantime, Sears is facing mounting problems, that include suppliers that are trying to break their contracts and the recent bankruptcy filing by its Canada unit. “We see an opportunity for Stanley to recapture a portion of what was once $3.5bn in Craftsman retail sales and increase share as Sears’ woes mount,” he wrote. Stanley shares were up about 1%, and have gained 24% in 2017, while the S&P 500 has gained 9%.

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Germany’s BMW AG is planning to introduce an electric sedan model at Germany’s biggest car show in Munich in September that is designed to compete directly with Telsa Inc.’s Model 3, German business paper Handelsblatt reported, citing unnamed company sources. The news comes as Tesla is set to start production of its Model 3, the car that will be aimed at the mass market. Demand for the vehicle has helped propel Tesla shares to repeated records this year, making it the biggest U.S. car maker by market capitalization, head of General Motors Co. and Ford Motor Co. . Tesla shares have gained 74% in 2017 so far, while the S&P 500 has gained 8%.

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FedEx Corp. said Wednesday that its TNT Express subsidiary was “significantly affected” by an information systems “virus.” The package delivery giant said that while TNT’s operations and communications systems were disrupted by the virus, it is not aware of any data breach. TNT Express had revenue of $1.91 billion in fiscal 2017, representing 12.2% of FedEx’s total revenue of $15.7 billion. FedEx’s stock has resumed trade after a halt, and was up 0.8% in midday trade. It has climbed 16% year to date, while the Dow Jones Transportation Average has gained 5.3% and the S&P 500 has advanced 9.0%.

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U.S. stock-market indexes on Wednesday traded higher, with equities attempting to rebounding from a technology-led downdraft in the previous session. A Senate delay of a closely watched vote on a bill to overhaul of the Affordable Care Act, known as Obamacare, until after July 4, has raised some questions about President Donald Trump’s ability to advance his pro-business and market-boosting agenda, headlined by tax cuts, deregulation and a boost to spending on infrastructure. The Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 0.8% at 21,478, the S&P 500 index rose 0.9% at 2,440, while the Nasdaq Composite Index gained 1% at 6,207, as the tech-laden benchmark tried to avoid three straight down days, and its first monthly drop since October. In the prior session, tech shares pitched sharply lower, with the biotech-oriented iShares Nasdaq Biotechnology ETF suffering its largest daily drop since March 21, and the health-care focused Health Care Select Sector SPDR ETF notching its steepest one-day drop since May 17, according to FactSet data. Technology stocks have been the centerpiece of what has been a mulitmonth rally in U.S. stocks. Also Tuesday, global investors digested comments from European Central Bank boss, Mario Draghi, whose remarks were interpreted as less hawkish than previously, pushing the euro to a 10-month high against the dollar and jolting yields on government paper up, including the 10-year Treasury note . On the corporate front, the market is anticipating the public listing of meal-kit maker Blue Apron Holdings Inc. .

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Shares of Nutanix Inc. were soaring 10% Wednesday after Alphabet Inc. said it had formed a partnership with the software company, according to CNBC. Nutanix pioneered a technology for businesses called hyperconvergence, which consolidates storage and servers. The first move under the partnership will be to move applications from physical data centers to Google Cloud, CNBC reported. Shares of Alphabet were down less than 1% Wednesday. Nutanix shares have gained 8% month-to-date, compared to the S&P 500’s gain of 1%.

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President Donald has accepted French President Emmanuel Macron’s invitation to visit France on Bastille Day, the White House said Wednesday. The White House said the president “looks forward to reaffirming America’s strong ties of friendship with France, to celebrating this important day with the French people, and to commemorating the 100th anniversary of America’s entry into World War I.”

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