Category: Stock Market News

Royal Bank of Scotland Group PLC has doubled its settlement offer to angry shareholders just a few hours before a potentially costly High Court trial is set to get underway, according to Sky News. A group of 9,000 individual investors, including some current staff, and 18 institutional investors have taken RBS to court, alleging the bank misled them about its finances when raising investment just before its near collapse. Some shareholders have already settled for over 40 pence a share, but others are said to be holding out for an offer of at least 92 pence per share, Sky News reported. If no settlement is reached, former RBS Chief Executive Fred Goodwin and a raft of other executives will be questioned over the events leading up to the lender’s £45.5 billion government bailout in 2008.

Market Pulse Stories are Rapid-fire, short news bursts on stocks and markets as they move. Visit MarketWatch.com for more information on this news.

…read more

From:: Stock Market News

Ford Motor Co. plans to replace CEO Mark Fields with Jim Hackett, a Ford executive who leads a unit that works on autonomous vehicles, according to multiple published reports citing unnamed sources. The company expects to make an announcement on Monday morning, a New York Times report said. Fields began Ford’s transition from a traditional automaker into a “mobility” company, but there have been rumblings that he didn’t focus enough on the core business, as well as worries about Ford’s sagging stock price, an AP report said. Hackett is known for previously serving as CEO of Steelcase Inc. and transforming that furniture company.

Market Pulse Stories are Rapid-fire, short news bursts on stocks and markets as they move. Visit MarketWatch.com for more information on this news.

…read more

From:: Stock Market News

President Trump’s first major budget proposal expected Tuesday will include massive cuts to Medicaid and a call for changes to anti-poverty programs that would give states greater power to limit benefits, the Washington Post reported Sunday, citing people familiar with the planning. For Medicaid, the state-federal program that provides health care to low-income Americans, Trump’s budget plan would follow through on a bill passed by House Republicans to cut more than $800 billion over 10 years. The Congressional Budget Office has estimated that this could cut off Medicaid benefits for about 10 million people over the next decade. Trump’s decision to include the Medicaid cuts reveals he is rejecting calls from a number of Senate Republicans not to reverse the expansion of Medicaid in President Obama’s Affordable Care Act. The House has voted to cut the Medicaid funding, but Senate Republicans have signaled they are likely to start from scratch. The White House will also call for giving states more flexibility to impose work requirements for people in different kinds of anti-poverty programs, people familiar with the budget plan told the Post.

Market Pulse Stories are Rapid-fire, short news bursts on stocks and markets as they move. Visit MarketWatch.com for more information on this news.

…read more

From:: Stock Market News

Former Federal Bureau of Investigation Director James Comey has agreed to testify in a public session before a Senate committee some time after Memorial Day, according to a statement released by the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence late Friday. Comey, who was fired by President Donald Trump last week, has previously declined to testify in closed sessions. The committee is investigating Russian interference in the 2016 election, and Comey had been leading an FBI effort in a similar probe. It will mark Comey’s first public remarks since he was fired.

Market Pulse Stories are Rapid-fire, short news bursts on stocks and markets as they move. Visit MarketWatch.com for more information on this news.

…read more

From:: Stock Market News

A passenger from Turkey aboard an American Airlines Group Inc. flight to Hawaii reportedly tried to breach the cockpit, prompting law enforcement to detain the suspect upon landing. The incident occurred on American Airlines flight 31 from Los Angeles, which safely landed in Honolulu at 11:35 a.m. local time. The passenger in question tried to break down the cockpit door and had also breached security at Los Angeles International Airport, which later allowed him on the flight, according to a report from HawaiiNewsNow. The incident prompted the flight landing with a military escort, according to HawaiiNewsNow. “Due to a disturbance during the flight, the crew requested that law enforcement meet the aircraft upon landing in Honolulu,” American said in a statement, adding that the airline has been in touch with federal law enforcement and that the matter is being handled by the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Honolulu Division. American Airlines shares slipped 1.3% to $44.65 after hours.

Market Pulse Stories are Rapid-fire, short news bursts on stocks and markets as they move. Visit MarketWatch.com for more information on this news.

…read more

From:: Stock Market News

Congress should not reverse all of the bank regulations put in place in the wake of the financial crisis, said San Francisco Fed President John Williams on Friday. In a talk with students at El Camino High School in San Francisco, Williams said the banking sector is now more resilient as a result of lessons learned from the financial crisis. “Without credit, a modern economy doesn’t work,” Williams said. He said he had a “fantasy” that he wouldn’t tell Congress exactly what to do on bank regulation if they don’t tell him what to do about monetary policy. Congress should consider policy changes to make sure the Social Security system can last for the next half century. Every year of delay makes the problems more difficult to fix, he said. Shoring up the system would give workers greater confidence, he said.

Market Pulse Stories are Rapid-fire, short news bursts on stocks and markets as they move. Visit MarketWatch.com for more information on this news.

…read more

From:: Stock Market News

Investment bank FBR & Co. said late Friday its board of directors has declared a special cash dividend of $7.61 per common share. That special dividend is in connection with FBR’s merger with B. Riley Financial Inc. , announced in February, and it is contingent upon the closing of the merger. The dividend is payable June 1 to shareholders of record May 30. Shares of FBR were flat in after-hours trading after ending the regular session down 0.6%.

Market Pulse Stories are Rapid-fire, short news bursts on stocks and markets as they move. Visit MarketWatch.com for more information on this news.

…read more

From:: Stock Market News

U.S. stocks rose Friday for two sessions in row as a rally in industrials and energy sectors supported a broad market gain. However, the S&P 500 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell for a second straight week in a row amid ongoing political uncertainty in the wake of President Donald Trump’s controversial firing of Federal Bureau of Investigation Director James Comey. The S&P 500 gained 15 points, or 0.7%, to close at 2,381 while the Dow Jones Industrial Average added 141 points, or 0.7%, to end at 20,804. Both indexes fell 0.4% for the week. The Nasdaq Composite Index climbed 28 points, or 0.5%, to close at 6,083, logging a weekly drop of 0.6%.

Market Pulse Stories are Rapid-fire, short news bursts on stocks and markets as they move. Visit MarketWatch.com for more information on this news.

…read more

From:: Stock Market News

Jim Donovan is dropping out as President Donald Trump’s nominee to serve as deputy Treasury secretary, Politico reported Friday. Donovan, a Goldman Sachs executive, was nominated in March for the No. 2 post at Treasury. In a statement included in Politico’s report, Donovan said he was “deeply honored” by the nomination but wanted to focus on his family.

Market Pulse Stories are Rapid-fire, short news bursts on stocks and markets as they move. Visit MarketWatch.com for more information on this news.

…read more

From:: Stock Market News

Oil prices settled higher Friday, with a weekly gain of more than 5% on growing expectations that members of Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries will agree to extend production cuts when they meet next week. Prices on Friday, however, finished off the session’s high after data from Baker Hughes revealed an 18th straight increase in active U.S. oil rigs, boosting the likelihood for gains in U.S. production. June West Texas Intermediate crude rose 98 cents, or 2%, to settle at $50.33 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The settlement was the highest in about a month, according to FactSet data.

Market Pulse Stories are Rapid-fire, short news bursts on stocks and markets as they move. Visit MarketWatch.com for more information on this news.

…read more

From:: Stock Market News