Category: Stock Market News

U.S. stocks extended modest losses in afternoon trade Wednesday, after the Federal Reserve’s anecdotal report on economic conditions at its districts, known as the Beige Book. Findings appear to strengthen case for Fed to raise rates at its June meeting. The S&P 500 was down 6.6 points, or 0.3%, at 2,406. Financials sector was the worst hit, down more than 1%. The Nasdaq Composite was down 21 points, or 0.3%, to 6,182. The Dow Jones Industrial Average retreated by 57 points, or 0.3%, to 20,974.

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From:: Stock Market News

The Dow Jones Industrial Average on Wednesday was getting dragged lower, with a slump in shares of Goldman Sachs Group Inc., and J.P. Morgan Chase & Co., serving as the biggest weight on the blue-chip gauge. Goldman was contributing to a roughly 45-point decline in the price-weighted Dow , while shares of J.P. Morgan were subtracting about 12 points from the average. The downturn for bank stocks, which was broad based, came as a batch of reports, including economic activity in Chicago and pending-home sales, were seen as possibly reducing the pace of rate hikes by the Federal Reserve. The market is betting that the Fed will raise rates next month when it holds a policy-setting convention, but another rate hike, as early as September, is being discounted due to the lackluster economic data, some market strategists said. Rate hikes tend to be beneficial for banks’ business models. Meanwhile, the 10-year Treasury yield [BX:TMUBMUSD10Y] has been sliding to a five-week low at 2.20%, also highlighting sliding rates. Comments from J.P. Morgan’s CFO Marianne Lake also provided a headwind for the sector. Lake told investors on Wednesday at an industry conference that trading in the second quarter at the bank was slumping, though she referred to it as seasonally normal, The Wall Street Journal reported. More broadly, the S&P 500 index was down 7 points, or 0.3%, at 2,408, with financials off 1.2%. The Nasdaq Composite Index , which briefly hit an intraday record, was off 23 points, or 0.4%, at 6,179.

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The New York Times Co. on Wednesday offered buyouts aimed at cutting the number of editors in the newsroom. In a memo to staff, Executive Editor Dean Baquet and managing editor Joseph Kahn said the paper’s current system of two separate groups of editors performing different tasks would be replaced with one group of editors responsible for all aspects, according to the Times. “Our goal is to significantly shift the balance of editors to reporters at the Times, giving us more on-the-ground journalists developing original work than ever before,” they wrote in the memo. According to the memo, reporters and other staffers in the newsroom are free to apply for the buyout. The number of positions targeted was not revealed. The Times hopes the buyout will let it hire 100 additional journalists, it said. Also on Wednesday, the Huffington Post reported that the paper would be eliminating its public-editor role. That position, currently held by a former Washington Post managing editor, Elizabeth Spayd, was created to hold the paper accountable after the Jayson Blair plagiarism scandal in 2003. The news comes a day after the Times announced it was establishing a “reader center” to improve engagement with its readers. Shares of New York Times Co. were down less than 1% shortly before noon on Wednesday. Shares have gained more than 31% in 2017 and more than 44% over the past 12 months, while the S&P 500 index is up nearly 8% in the year and 15% in the last 12 months.

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Tesla Inc. on Wednesday traded as high as $339.40 intraday, putting it on track to close at another record after hitting that milestone on Tuesday, when it closed at $335.10. Analysts at Morgan Stanley said in a note more investors viewed Tesla as the “nexus of shared, autonomous and electric transportation” rather than just as a car company. “The market’s appreciation of applied (artificial intelligence) in real world driving scenarios/transportation has evolved significantly over the past 12 months and Tesla is part of a much broader discussion at all levels,” the analysts said. Tesla has joined the likes of Amazon.com Inc. , Apple Inc. , and Alphabet Inc. as part of the discussions about machine learning and a multi-trillion dollar transportation market, yet it is valued at a fraction of these three companies, they said. The analysts also said Tesla and its stakeholders will have to ask whether it is “better off disrupting transport on a stand-alone basis or whether it could extract even greater value … as part of a larger entity or consortium.” Morgan Stanley in May downgraded Tesla to its equivalent of neutral and cut its price target on the shares to $305.

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From:: Stock Market News

The Dow Jones Industrial Average on Wednesday was getting dragged lower, with a slump in shares of Goldman Sachs Group Inc., and J.P. Morgan Chase & Co., serving as the biggest weight on the blue-chip gauge. Goldman was contributing to a roughly 45-point decline in the price-weighted Dow , while shares of J.P. Morgan were subtracting about 12 points from the average. The downturn for bank stocks, which was broad based, came as a batch of weak economic reports on economic activity in Chicago and pending-home sales, were seen as reducing the pace of rate hikes by the Federal Reserve. The market is betting that the Fed will raise rates next month when it holds a policy-setting convention, but another rate hike, as early as September, is being discounted due to the lackluster economic data, market strategists said. Rate hikes tend to be beneficial for banks’ business models. Comments from J.P. Morgan’s CFO Marianne Lake also provided a headwind for the sector. Lake told investors on Wednesday at an industry conference that trading at the bank was slumping, though she referred to it as seasonally normal, The Wall Street Journal reported. More broadly, the S&P 500 index was down 4 points, or 0.2%, at 2,408, with financials off 1.2%. The Nasdaq Composite Index , which briefly hit an intraday record, was off 23 points, or 0.4%, at 6,179.

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From:: Stock Market News

Film exhibitors continue to experience stock declines as the summer movie season has gotten off to a rough start. Shares of Imax Corp. were down more than 5%, leading the exhibitor space downward, with AMC Entertainment Holding Inc. shares falling nearly 4% and shares of Cinemark Holdings Inc. and Marcus Corp. falling slightly. Regal Entertainment Group shares were up less than 1%. The declines follow a Tuesday selloff that came after the 4-day Memorial Day holiday weekend had the lowest gross in 18 years. “Although Imax has the benefit of global exposure and more local content than the pure play exhibitors, their business is still focused on major blockbuster films and, with a number of those underperforming as of late, we would not be surprised if incremental concerns over near-term results and negative leverage on the model on weaker box office results is causing the selling pressure,” B. Riley analyst Eric Wold said. The summer box office, so far through the season, is down 4.7% compared with last year’s gross during the same time frame. Shares of the S&P 500 index were down slightly in intraday trade on Wednesday.

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Gilead Sciences Inc. said pre-market Tuesday that an HIV drug combination met primary endpoints in four late-stage clinical trials. The company said it plans to file for approval in the U.S. and Europe this year. Gilead’s combination, the drugs bictegravir and emtricitabine/tenofovir alafenamide, is intended to treat HIV-1 infection in a single tablet regimen, and the latest results “could represent an important advance in triple-therapy treatment for a broad range of HIV patients,” Gilead said. Two of the studies looked at the combination’s efficacy and safety relative to another HIV drug in newly-diagnosed patients. The other two studies compared patients switching to the Gilead HIV combination to those on another regimen. HIV drugs, along with Hepatitis C drugs, have become an important part of Gilead’s revenue stream. Shares were up a scant 0.3% in pre-market trade on Tuesday. Shares have dropped 8.7% over the last three months, compared with a 1.9% rise in the S&P 500 .

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From:: Stock Market News

Bank stocks fell across the board Wednesday, after J.P. Morgan Chase & Co.’s Chief Financial Officer said trading is down about 15% in the second quarter. Marianne Lake told investors at an industry conference that the decline is a “normal seasonal” one that is typical moving from the first to the second quarters, The Wall Street Journal reported. She said fixed income was down, while equities were up slightly. “We’re doing decently in a reasonably challenging environment,” Ms. Lake said Wednesday. “Performance is quite good but there’s not a lot to trade around right now….there haven’t been that many exciting events and we need a few more of them,” she said. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. led the decline, trading down 3.1%. Bank of America Corp. fell 2.7%, Citigroup Inc. was down 2.5%, Morgan Stanley fell 2.3% and J.P. Morgan was down 2.2%. The Financial Select Sector SPDR exchange-traded fund fell 1.2%, and is down 0.3% in 2017, while the S&P 500 has gained about 8%.

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Smucker Foods of Canada, a division of J.M. Smucker Co. , said Wednesday that it is working with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to voluntarily recall flour products due to possible E. coli 0121 contamination. Impacted brands include specific production codes in the Golden Temple, Swad and Maya brands. The merchandise is packaged in 20-pound paper bags and was distributed to 19 distributors and two small retailers. The affected product was made by Ardent Mills in Saskatoon, SK Canada. There are no reported illnesses associated with the U.S. recall so far. Smucker shares are down nearly 10% for the last three months while the S&P 500 index is up 2.1% for the period.

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From:: Stock Market News

U.S. stocks edged higher at the open on Wednesday, putting the S&P 500 near record territory as a number of key technology stocks continued to lift the broader market. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 16 points, or 0.1%, to 21,041. The S&P 500 gained 2 points, or 0.1%, to 2,415, putting it within points of an all-time high. The Nasdaq Composite Index hit a new intraday record in early trading, rising 18 points to 6,221, a gain of 0.3%. The tech sector has been the strongest performer of 2017, lifting the overall market. On Wednesday, Apple Inc. rose 0.2% while Facebook Inc. added 0.4%. On the downside, energy companies maintained their recent weakness as crude oil slumped 2.7%. Exxon Mobil Corp. lost 0.3% while Chevron Corp. fell 0.6%. For the month of May, the Dow is up 0.4% and the S&P is up 1.2%. The Nasdaq is up 2.6% in its seventh straight monthly gain, its longest such streak since 2013. It is the sixth positive month for both the Dow and the S&P 500 of the past seven.

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From:: Stock Market News