Category: Stock Market News

The Coca-Cola Co. said Wednesday it is nearing the completion of its refranchising plan for the U.S. with a new letter of intent for territory in the Northeast. Coca-Cola Refreshments executives Paul Mulligan and Fran McGorry are planning a new bottling company to be called Liberty Coca-Cola Beverages LLC, and have signed a letter of intent for an area that includes metropolitan New York, Philadelphia, most of the state of New Jersey and part of Delaware, plus four production facilities. “This is a critical milestone in a journey that dates back more than a decade,” said J. Alexander Douglas Jr., President, Coca-Cola North America, in a statement. Coca-Cola shares were flat in premarket trade, but have gained 7% in 2017, matching the performance of the S&P 500 . The Dow Jones Industrial Average , which counts Coca-Cola as a member, has gained 6% in 2017.

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Lowe’s Cos. on Wednesday posted quarterly sales and adjusted earnings that fell short of Wall Street’s targets. First-quarter adjusted earnings at the home-improvement retailer were $1.03 a share, compared with FactSet estimate of $1.06 a share. Lowe’s said adjusted earnings were 87 cents a year ago. Net earnings were $602 million, or 70 cents a share, compared with $884 million, or 98 cents a share, a year ago. First-quarter sales came in at $16.86 billion, up from $15.23 billion in the year-earlier period, but below the FactSet consensus estimate of $16.95 billion. Same-store sales during the quarter rose 1.9%, said Lowe’s. The company’s shares dropped more than 7% in premarket trade after the results were released.

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Manchester Police have arrested another three men in connection with the investigation into Monday night’s bombing that killed 22 people after an Ariana Grande concert. That brings the total arrests to four after police on Tuesday brought in a 23-year-old man. The U.K. late Tuesday raised its threat level to “critical” from “severe” after investigations revealed that the suicide bomber Salman Abedi may not have acted alone.

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Shares of Universal Health Services Inc. declined in the extended session Tuesday following a report that the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Defense Department have launched probes into the hospital operator. Universal Health Services shares declined 3% to $115.25 after hours. In addition to a 2013 probe launched by the Department of Health and Human Services, the FBI and Defense Department are now looking into whether UHS directed hospitals to keep patients for as long as insurance would cover rather than for medical need, according to BuzzFeed News.

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The United Kingdom raised its threat level to “critical” from “severe” late Tuesday, a day after a suspected terrorist exploded a bomb at a Manchester arena, killing more than 20 concertgoers. U.K. Prime Minister Theresa May placed the country on the highest state of alert, meaning officials believe that another attack is expected “imminently,” after authorities have yet to rule out whether suicide bomber Salman Abedi acted alone. Monday’s attack took place following the close of an Ariana Grande concert in Manchester, killing 22 and injuring dozens of others.

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Oil prices edged up in electronic trading Tuesday after the American Petroleum Institute reported a decline of 1.5 million barrels in U.S. crude supplies for the week ended May 19, according to sources. The API data also showed a drop of 3.2 million barrels in gasoline supplies, while inventories of distillates were down 1.9 million barrels, sources said. Supply data from the Energy Information Administration will be released Wednesday morning. Analysts polled by S&P Global Platts forecast a decrease of 2.8 million barrels in crude inventories. June crude was at $51.53 a barrel in electronic trading, up slightly from the contract’s settlement of $51.47 on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

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The Container Store Group Inc. stock rocketed more than 20% higher Tuesday afternoon after the retail chain revealed a massive earnings beat and a restructuring plan that will include layoffs. The Container Store said it had net income of $8.4 million, or 17 cents a share, on sales of $221 million for the fiscal fourth quarter. Analysts on average expected earnings of 9 cents a share on sales of $213 million, according to FactSet. The company, which has struggled mightily on Wall Street this year, said that it would go ahead with a four-part “optimization” plan that includes “sales initiatives, certain full-time position eliminations at TCS, organizational realignment at Elfa and ongoing savings and efficiency efforts.” Container Store did not disclose the number of jobs that will be eliminated in the release nor a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, though it said it expects “the elimination of certain full-time positions at the company’s stores, corporate office and distribution center” will save $7 million in expenses while costing $2 million in severance. Overall, it expects the plan to cost $9 million to $11 million in fiscal 2017, which began April 2, while providing savings of $12 to $15 million, adding 3 cents to 5 cents to the company’s per-share earnings for the year. Container Store shares, which have plunged 34.7% so far this year as the S&P 500 index has gained 6.9%, reached $5.60 in after-hours trading following a close at $4.15.

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U.S. stocks climbed for a fourth session on Tuesday, with the S&P 500 and the Dow logging their longest win streak since February, following the release of the White House budget proposal for 2018. Financial stocks were the big winners, thanks to big gains in Goldman Sachs Group and J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. . The S&P 500 rose 4 points, or 0.2%, to close at 2,398. The Dow Jones Industrial Average advanced 43 points, or 0.2%, to end at 20,938 and the Nasdaq Composite Index edged up 5 points to finish at 6,138.

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A climb in the Dow Jones Industrial Average on Tuesday was being supported predominantly by a rally in banks shares, Goldman Sachs Group and J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. in late afternoon trade. Combined, shares of the pair of bank giants were adding about 40 points to the the price-weighted Dow industrials . The blue-chip gauge was up 59 points, with Goldman and J.P. Morgan producing more than 70% of the heavy lifting. The broader stock market is on track for its fourth straight advance, coming after a tough stretch for stocks last week, highlighted by the worst decline in months on Wednesday. That drop was spurred by mounting doubts that President Donald Trump will be able to produce promises of tax cuts, a boost to infrastructure spending, and deregulation–factors which have vaulted equity benchmarks higher over the past several months. However, those proposals have come into question as Trump faces an FBI probe into his administration’s ties to Russia. Still, the broad uptrend appears to be intact, with the S&P 500 index up 0.3% at 2,400, reclaiming a level it was at prior to Wednesday’s rout, while the Nasdaq Composite Index was 0.1% higher at 6,139.

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Oil prices settled higher Tuesday, buoyed by expectations that the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries will reach an agreement to extend the production-cut pact for at least another six months. Traders also weighed President Donald Trump’s plan to sell some U.S. crude from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve as part of his broader budget proposal. June West Texas Intermediate crude rose 34 cents, or 0.7%, to settle at $51.47 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

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