Category: Stock Market News

Kroger Co. shares fell 8.2% in Thursday premarket trading after the grocery store chain cut its full-year earnings guidance. Net income totaled $303.0 million, or 32 cents per share, down from $696.0 million, or 72 cents per share, for the same period last year. Adjusted EPS was 58 cents, in line with the FactSet consensus. Sales were $36.3 billion, up from $34.6 billion last year and ahead of the $35.6 billion FactSet consensus. Same-store sales excluding fuel declined 0.2%, compared with the FactSet consensus for a 0.5% decline. Kroger cut its 2017 EPS guidance to $1.74 to $1.79, and its adjusted EPS to a range of $2.00 to $2.05. The previous adjusted EPS guidance was for a range of $2.21 to $2.25. The FactSet consensus is for $2.20. The company continues to see same-store sales excluding fuel of flat to 1% growth. Kroger shares are down 12.3% for the year so far while the S&P 500 index is up nearly 9% for the period.

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Bob Evans Farms Inc. shares rose nearly 4% in Thursday premarket trading after the food company reported fourth-quarter earnings that beat estimates. Net income totaled $108.9 million, or $5.39 per share, up from $581.0 million, or 3 cents per share, for the same period last year. Adjusted EPS was 61 cents per share, beating the 48-cent FactSet consensus. Sales were $99.9 million, down from $102.4 million last year and below the $105.0 million FactSet consensus. Bob Evans completed the acquisition of the Pineland Farms Potato Company during the quarter, and completed the sale of the Bob Evans restaurants segment. The company said revenue was impacted by higher sales of lower-priced, higher-margin side-dish products and reduced sausage pricing. Bob Evans reiterated its fiscal year 2018 guidance for sales of $470 million, and initiated guidance for EPS of $2.06 to $2.24. The FactSet consensus is for sales of $471.3 million and EPS of $2.43. Bob Evans shares are up more than 77% for the past year while the S&P 500 index is up 17.7% for the period.

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Michaels Companies Inc. announced Thursday a new $500 million stock repurchase program. The program does not have an expiration date. Based on the stock’s Wednesday closing price of $18.72, the new program would enable the arts and crafts retailer to repurchase 26.7 million shares, or about 14% of the shares outstanding. The stock, which was still inactive in premarket trade, has dropped 8.5% year to date, while the SPDR S&P Retail ETF has lost 6.6% and the S&P 500 has gained 8.9%.

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The Bank of England on Thursday left its key interest rate at 0.25%, meeting expectations. But the vote to hold the rate steady was 5-3, with more policy makers than anticipated looking for a rate increase. The pound surged to $1.2781 from $1.2702 just ahead of the decision, on the 5-3 vote tally. Analysts were widely expecting only one BOE member to vote in favor of a rate hike, in line with the voting at the May meeting. Economic data this week have shown inflation rising to nearly 3%, average wages falling and retail sales declining. The central bank on Thursday also left unchanged the size of its asset purchase program at £435 billion ($554 billion) and its corporate-bond purchase program at £10 billion. The BOE’s decision was the first since the U.K.’s general election resulted in a hung parliament.

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The congressional baseball game for charity will go on as planned for Thursday at the MLB’s Washington Nationals Park after Republicans and Democrats called for bipartisan unity in the wake of the baseball practice shooting a day earlier. “This bipartisan event shows baseball’s power to bring people together,” the Nationals said in a statement. The friendly game’s origins date back to 1909. Rep. Steve Scalise, a member of the Republican baseball team and the third most powerful House member as Majority Whip, remains in the hospital after a gunman, later killed, opened fired while Republican members of Congress were practicing Wednesday in Alexandria, Virginia. Four people were shot and two others suffered secondary injuries.

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The Queen’s Speech that had been planned for Monday has been delayed until Wednesday, according to Andrea Leadsom, leader for the U.K.’s House of Commons. She announced the delay in a tweet Thursday, confirming earlier reports that the event would be pushed back. That speech by the monarch is typically part of a state opening of parliament, marking the formal start of the legislative year as the government sets out its agenda. The delay comes as the U.K. grapples with political uncertainty after last week’s inconclusive election cast doubt on Prime Minister Theresa May’s ability to stay in office or govern effectively. A delay to the opening of parliament has been seen as a way to give May’s Conservative Party more time to negotiate with a potential ally, the Democratic Unionist Party, after it had to backtrack over the weekend on a statement it had reached a deal with the Northern Irish party. Talks continue with the DUP, a Sky News report said.

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At least 17 people are now confirmed dead in the massive fire that hit an apartment tower in west London early Wednesday, and the death toll is expected to continue to rise, according to the Metropolitan Police. Thirty-seven people are still in hospital, with 17 of them still in critical condition, the police said in a post to Twitter. London Fire Commissioner Dany Cotton said Thursday morning there are “unknown numbers” of people in the Grenfell Tower, but that rescuers don’t expect to find any more survivors, according to local media reports. “Tragically now we are not expecting to find anyone else alive. The severity and the heat of the fire would mean it is an absolute miracle for anyone to be left alive,” she told Sky News.

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Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV said Thursday that it’s recalling almost 300,000 minivans in North America after discovering a wiring problem that “may lead to inadvertent deployment of a driver-side front air bag.” The issue affects certain 2011-2012 Dodge Grand Caravan minivans and has been linked to 13 minor injuries, the Italian-American car maker said in a statement. An estimated 209,135 vans in the U.S. and 87,703 vehicles in Canada are covered by the recall, according to Fiat Chrysler. Shares were 0.8% lower in European trading, matching the Stoxx Europe 600’s decline. U.S.-listed shares fell 1.2% in premarket action.

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Republican Congressman Steve Scalise remains in critical conditions and will require additional operations, the MedStar Washington Hospital Center said in a statement late Wednesday. Scalise — the House Majority Whip — was shot during a baseball team practice in Northern Virginia on Wednesday morning by leftwing activist James Hodgkinson. The Congressman was hit by a single shot to the left hip, the hospital said. “The bullet travelled across his pelvis, fracturing bones, injuring internal organs, and causing severe bleeding… He underwent immediate surgery, and an additional procedure to stop bleeding,” the hospital said in the statement.

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A lockdown at Travis Air Force Base in Northern California raised fears of an active shooter Wednesday afternoon, but turned out to be a false alarm. The sprawling facility, located about midway between San Francisco and Sacramento, went under lockdown around 3:40 p.m. Pacific time after reports of gunshots inside a shopping mall on the base. After a search of the area, no victims were found. After more than an hour, “it was determined to be a false alarm,” the base said in a Facebook post late Wednesday. A safety training exercise was scheduled to be held on base Wednesday and Thursday. While the base said the incidents were unrelated, reports said someone may have mistaken participants in the exercise for an actual gunman. The incident rattled nerves, following mass shootings earlier in the day in northern Virginia and San Francisco.

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