Category: Stock Market News

Shares of American Airlines Group Inc. rose 0.5% in premarket trade Friday, after the air carrier reported May load factor that increased, as traffic growth outpaced a rise in capacity. Load factor increased to 82.1% from 81.9% a year ago, while rivals United Continental Holdings Inc. and Southwest Airlines Co. reported load factor declines. Traffic on American flights increased 2.6% to 19.9 billion revenue passenger miles, while capacity rose 2.3% to 24.3 billion available seat miles. American affirmed its second-quarter outlook for total revenue per available seat mile of an increase of 3.5% to 5.5%. The stock has climbed 10% year to date through Thursday, while the NYSE Arca Airline Index has gained 5.9% and the S&P 500 has advanced 8.7%.

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U.K. Prime Minister Theresa May is crafting a new government, with Friday’s move taking place after Thursday’s snap general election resulted in a hung parliament in the House of Commons. “I will now form a government…that will provide certainty and lead Britain forward,” May said after Queen Elizabeth II granted her permission to create a new government. May, who leads the Conservative Party, in April called for a general election to strengthen her position ahead of Brexit talks with European Union officials. Instead, the election resulted in a hung parliament, meaning no one party won the 326 seats needed to control the body.

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Energy producer Encana Corp. announced Friday a deal to sell its Piceance natural gas assets for $735 million in cash to Denver-based Caerus Oil and Gas LLC. Encana said it will also reduce its midstream commitments by about $430 million, and will market Caerus’s production related to the assets. Encana said its Piceance assets included about 3,100 operated wells which produced 240 million cubic feet of natural gas and 2,178 barrels of liquid per day, on average. “This transaction advances our strategy, makes the company more efficient and delivers significant proceeds that we will use to further strengthen our balance sheet,” said Chief Executive Doug Suttles. The stock, which is still inactive in premarket trade, has tumbled 24% year to date, while the SPDR Energy Select Sector ETF has lost 14% and the S&P 500 has gained 8.7%.

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Shares of Dupont Fabros Technology Inc. soared 13% in premarket trade Friday toward a record high, after the developer and operator of multi-tenant data centers announced an agreement to be acquired by Digital Realty Trust Inc. in an all-stock deal that values Dupont Fabros at $4.95 billion. Under terms of the deal, Digital Realty will exchange 0.545 of its shares for each Dupont Fabros share outstanding. Based on Thursday’s closing prices, that values Dupont Fabros shares at $63.63 each, or 14.9% above the previous session’s close of $55.36, and 13.3% above the June 2 record close of $56.16. The deal is expected to close in the second half of 2017, and to immediately add to financial metrics and to strengthen the balance sheet. The merger is expected to realize synergies of $18 million a year. “This strategic and complementary transaction significantly enhances Digital Realty’s ability to support the growth of hyper-scale users in the top U.S. data center metro areas, while providing meaningful customer and geographic diversification for DuPont Fabros,” said Digital Realty Chief Executive William Stein. Dupont Fabros’s stock has rallied 26% year to date through Thursday, while Digital Realty shares have climbed 19% and the S&P 500 has gained 8.7%.

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British Prime Minister Theresa May has reached a deal with the Democratic Unionist Party, with that Northern Ireland party agreeing to support her Conservative government, according to published reports Friday. The agreement was needed after May’s Tories suffered a surprising setback in Thursday’s general election, losing their majority and leaving the U.K. with a hung parliament. May is expected to visit Buckingham Palace later Friday to seek permission from the queen to form a government, a BBC report said.

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The U.K. general election has ended Friday in a “hung parliament,” where no single party holds a majority. With 646 seats out of 650 declared, Prime Minister Theresa May’s Conservative Party has won 315 seats, making it impossible for the ruling party to keep its majority in parliament. May has come under pressure to resign after losing her bid to smooth the path for her Brexit plans in parliament, but media reports Friday said she plans to stay on and look into forming a minority government.

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U.K. Prime Minister Theresa May has said she will not step down after a general election in which her Conservative party lost its majority in parliament, according to media reports. May has come under increasing pressure to resign following the snap election, with polls early Friday showing the Conservatives have won 315 seats, short of the 326 needed to secure a majority, as the Labour Party increased its seat total. May is in talks with senior party colleagues about how to form a new government, according to a report from ITV. But they are expected to demand that she have less control over the party than in recent months, if she wants to remain prime minister. The Conservatives may form a coalition with Northern Ireland’s Democratic Unionist Party to try and cobble together a parliamentary majority, the Independent reported.

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Two police officers riding bicycles, as well as at least one civilian, were hit by a pickup truck Thursday night in the Adams Morgan neighborhood of Washington, D.C., prompting a massive police response to the area. Witnesses on social media reported dozens of police cars rushing to the scene. Police said the pickup was located and the driver arrested. D.C. fire officials said both officers were hospitalized and one was in critical condition, according to local news reports.

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U.K. stocks are set to kick off Friday trading in negative territory after early results from the country’s general election pointed to a hung parliament. Futures for the FTSE 100 index pointed to a 0.3% loss at the open, putting the London benchmark on path for a fifth straight day of losses. The fall came as an exit poll and early results in the U.K. election showed the ruling Conservative Party was at risk of losing its majority in parliament. That could lead to a so-called hung parliament that is feared to slow and muddle the Brexit talks with Brussels. The fall in U.K. stock futures was negated by a sharp drop in the pound , which tends to boost the multinational FTSE index. Sterling traded at a seven-week low of $1.2727, down from around $1.2960 before the exit poll.

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Google parent Alphabet Inc. will sell robotics companies Boston Dynamics and Schaft to SoftBank Group Corp. , the Japanese tech giant announced late Thursday. Alphabet had reportedly been shopping Boston Dynamics, which it bought in 2013, for about a year. A price was not announced. Boston Dynamics is known for its humanoid and animal-like robots, which often became the subject of viral videos. “We at Boston Dynamics are excited to be part of SoftBank’s bold vision and its position creating the next technology revolution, and we share SoftBank’s belief that advances in technology should be for the benefit of humanity,” Boston Dynamics CEO Marc Raibert said in a statement. SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son welcomed the company into his fold with a statement of his own: “Today, there are many issues we still cannot solve by ourselves with human capabilities. . . . Smart robotics are going to be a key driver of the next stage of the Information Revolution, and Marc and his team at Boston Dynamics are the clear technology leaders in advanced dynamic robots.” Japan-based Schaft specializes in bipedal robots, and was also bought by Google in 2013. SoftBank has long been a leader in robotics, and created the helper robot Pepper.

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