Category: Stock Market News

Shares of Forestar Group Inc. soared 12% in premarket trade Monday, after D.R. Horton Inc. proposed buying 75% of the real estate development company for $16.25 a share, which is 14% above Starwood Capital Group’s buyout bid the company agreed to in April. D.R. Horton said under terms of its proposed deal, Forestar would remain a public company. Forestar shareholders can elect to receive $16.25 a share in cash for each Forestar share they own, or retain their shares of the remaining company. “We believe that D.R. Horton is uniquely positioned to make Forestar the country’s leading residential land development company,” said D.R. Horton Chairman Donald Horton. “Together, we can grow Forestar into a much more significant and valuable company for all of its stockholders.” On April 13, Forestar agreed to be acquired by private Starwood for $14.25 a share in cash, valuing Forestar at $605 million. Forestar’s stock has climbed 6.8% year to date through Friday, while D.R. Horton shares have rallied 24% and the S&P 500 has gained 8.9%.

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U.K. stocks edged lower Monday, weighed down by a gain in the pound after a fresh poll signaled a comfortable lead for the governing Conservative Party as a general election nears. A terror attack in London over the weekend has added to the uncertainty around Thursday’s election, but the Guardian/ICM poll out Monday suggested a change in government isn’t likely, giving the Tories an 11-point lead over the Labour Party. The FTSE 100 fell 0.3% to 7,527.96, while sterling traded at $1.2900, up from $1.2891 late Friday in New York. Earlier Monday, the FTSE had been edging higher, while the pound dropped.

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Herbalife Ltd. will lower its current-quarter sales outlook before the market opens Monday, according to a report Sunday night by CNBC. According to the report, Herbalife now expects revenue to be 1.5% less than forecast, and volume points — a key sales figure — 3% below estimates. The company reportedly blamed new FTC rules as well as soft sales in Mexico. Last week, Herbalife named Richard Goudis its new chief executive. Herbalife shares were down slightly in after-hours trading Sunday night, but are up more than 53% this year, compared to the S&P 500’s 9% gain year-to-date.

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LONDON (MarketWatch) — Prime Minister Theresa May said the string of violent incidents in London late Saturday are being treated by authorities as possible acts of terrorism. May’s statement, as reported by Sky News: “The terrible incident in London is being treated as a potential act of terrorism.”

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LONDON (MarketWatch) — A series of violent attacks in central London late Saturday evening local time have left at least one person dead and others injured, according to media reports. At London Bridge, pedestrians were hit by a white van that mounted the pavement and drove into them at around 10:15 p.m., reports said. At around the same time, in nearby Borough Market, reports were coming in of many stabbings. Meanwhile, London’s Metropolitan Police said shots had been fired in the area, a popular tourist destination, the Wall Street Journal reported. A few miles away, in Vauxhall, police are understood to be looking for three attackers, media reports said, believed to be in connection with the stabbing incident. Police have confirmed there are armed officers on the scene at London Bridge, Borough Market and Vauxhall. They are warning people to avoid these areas if they can, and to run and hide if they cannot. Authorities have not commented on whether the attacks were believed to have a terrorist motive.

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U.K. Prime Minister Theresa May’s lead over the opposition Labour Party remains unchanged at 12 points ahead of a June 8 election, but her personal approval ratings have turned negative for the first time, according to a ComRes poll published on Saturday. The poll, conducted for the Independent and Sunday Mirror, found May’s Conservative Party still expected to win 47% of the vote against the Labour Party’s 35%. A full 42% of those polled said they had a negative view of May, against 39% who held a positive view. A slightly bigger 43% had a negative view of the Conservatives, versus 37% who had a positive view. Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn fared even worse in the poll, with 47% of those polled holding a negative view of him, versus 32% with a positive view.

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Randal Quarles and Marvin Goodfriend have been picked to be the nominees for two of the three open slots at the Federal Reserve, The New York Times reported, citing people with direct knowledge of the decision. The report said it’s unclear when the White House would nominate them. Quarles, a former Treasury Department official, has long been rumored to get the vice chairman for supervision role. Goodfriend is a professor at the Carnegie Mellon Tepper School of Business and a former Richmond Fed official. Both Quarles and Goodfriend have expressed support for the idea that the Fed should have a more formulaic way to set interest rates. Goodfriend also has been a critic of the Fed’s bond purchases.

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U.S. stocks closed at records for a second straight session on Friday as tepid jobs growth in May highlighted the possibility that the Federal Reserve could raise interest rates just one more time this year rather than the widely expected two. Data from the Labor Department showed that the U.S. economy added 138,000 jobs last month, signficantly below the 185,000 projected in a MarketWatch survey. The S&P 500 climbed 8 points, or 0.3%, to close at 2,438 for a weekly gain of 0.9%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average close up 55 points, or 0.3%, to 21,200, adding 0.6% on the week. The Nasdaq Composite Index rose 58 points, or 0.8%, to close at 6,305, for a weekly rally of 1.5%.

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The dismal May jobs report may have been artificially suppressed by a quirk of the calendar, Barclays’ economist Michael Gapen wrote in a note Friday afternoon. May usually sees large numbers of college students returning to the workforce midway through the month. When the Labor Department’s survey week falls in the first half of the month, like this year, fewer college-age workers are captured. (The survey is always conducted during the week that includes the 12th day of the month.) Barclays analyzed May employment data over the past few decades and found that when the survey week is in the first half of the month, average job gains were 110,000. When it fell in the second half of the month, job gains averaged 176,000.

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German grocer Lidl has announced the locations of the first 10 stores to open in the U.S. on June 15. The company previously announced the opening date without naming the store locations. The company says it will create 5,000 jobs. Six of the stores will be in North Carolina, in Wilson, Kinston, Greenville, Sanford, Rocky Mount and Winston-Salem. The two South Carolina stores will be located in Spartanburg and Greenville, and the two Virginia stores will be located in Virginia Beach and Hampton. Stores will open at 8am after a ribbon-cutting ceremony. Lidl is the latest entrant into the U.S. grocery market, adding to a crowded market that includes Wal-Mart Stores Inc. , Kroger Co. and Whole Foods Market Inc. .

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