Category: Stock Market News

The U.S. dollar staged a rebound on Thursday after days of weakness, with the sentiment boosted by a hawkish comment from Loretta Mester, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland. In a speech to members of the Economic Club of Minnesota, Mester said the Fed needs to keep raising interest rates this year if economic conditions continue on their current pace. Earlier, the dollar got a small boost from better-than-expected reports on jobless claims and manufacturing index from the Philly Fed. The ICE U.S. Dollar index was up 0.4% at 97.969. The index erased nearly all of its postelection gains, after falling to its lowest levels in six month on Wednesday. In mid-afternoon trade, euro was trading at $1.1093, down 0.6% from $1.1159. The dollar strengthened against the Japanese yen with the dollar buying ¥111.50, up 0.6% from ¥110.82. The dollar was also stronger across the board against emerging-market currencies.

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Crude-oil prices on Thursday settled modestly higher, adding to the previous session’s advance as the market focused on decreasing stockpiles ahead of a highly anticipated meeting of OPEC. West Texas Intermediate crude trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange for June delivery settled 28 cents, or 0.6%, higher at $49.35 a barrel. Market participants are looking forward to a May 25 meeting of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries in Vienna, where an extension of efforts to curb global output will be discussed and outlined, with a possible extension into March 2018 under consideration. Moves for crude come as data on Wednesday from the U.S. Energy Information Administration showed that the amount of crude, gasoline and diesel fuel in storage declined in the week ended Friday. However, a decline of 1.75 million barrel in crude stockpiles fell short of Street expectations. Production by U.S. shale producers has been the crude market’s biggest bugaboo.

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Gold prices snapped a six-session winning streak on Thursday to settle lower as a rebound in U.S. stocks dampened buying interest in safe-haven assets. The U.S. currency’s strength also weighed on the precious metal as gold is priced in dollars, and a stronger buck makes the metal more expensive. June gold fell $5.90, or 0.5%, to settle at $1,252.80 an ounce.

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One person is dead and at least 12 others injured Thursday afternoon after being struck by a speeding car in New York’s busy Times Square area,according to a Reuters report. The New York Police Department has blocked off the area, and the driver of the car is in custody and being questioned, according to NBC. Early reports are referring to the incident as accidental. There is expected to be a news briefing about the incident at around 1:30 p.m. Eastern.

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Tesla Inc. Chief Executive Elon Musk told The Guardian British newspaper that the company’s market capitalization is “higher than we have any right to deserve.” The comments were around the newspaper’s report, published Thursday, on working conditions at the Tesla factory in Fremont, Calif. “We’re a money-losing company,” The Guardian quoted Musk as saying. “This is not some situation where, for example, we are just greedy capitalists who decided to skimp on safety in order to have more profits and dividends and that kind of thing. It’s just a question of how much money we lose. And how do we survive? How do we not die and have everyone lose their jobs?” Tesla’s market cap is around $51 billion, according to FactSet, and the company earlier this year became the No. 1 U.S. car maker by market value, surpassing Ford Motor Co. , with a market cap around $42 billion, and General Motors Co. , with a market cap of $49 billion, also according to FactSet. Shares of Tesla rose 1.2% on Thursday, outpacing the S&P 500 Index , and have hit a string of highs in recent months, closing at a record $325.11 on May 10. The stock has gained more than 45% in 2017, compared with gains of 5.5% for the benchmark.

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From:: Stock Market News

One person is dead and at least 10 injured Thursday afternoon after being struck by a speeding car in New York’s busy Times Square area,according to a Reuters report. The New York Police Department has blocked off the area, and the driver of the car is in custody and being questioned, according to NBC. Early reports are referring to the incident as accidental. MarketWatch hasn’t been able to independently verify the reports.

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Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Richard Burr said Thursday that former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn’s lawyers say Flynn will not honor a subpoena to testify before the panel. Burr’s comment was reported by the Associated Press and others and comes after reports that President Donald Trump asked former FBI Director James Comey to shut down an investigation into Flynn’s actions, and that Trump’s team knew Flynn was under investigation before they hired him.

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U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer has given Congress notification that President Donald Trump will initiate negotiations with Canada and Mexico to modernize the North American Free Trade Agreement. The letter means the talks can start in 90 days. “We intend to initiate negotiations with Canada and Mexico as soon as practicable, but no earlier than 90 days from the date of this notice,” the Lighthizer letter states.

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Shares of Halliburton Co. inched higher Thursday, a day after the oil-field services company announced its board of directors elected Jeff Miller, a board member and the company’s president, as Halliburton’s next chief executive. CEO David Lesar, who has led Halliburton since 2000, will continue as executive chairman. The changes will be effective June 1, the company said in a statement late Wednesday. The announcement had been expected since Miller was named president in 2014, but it came earlier than expected, analysts at Citigroup said in a note Thursday. Moreover, the company is still searching for a chief financial officer after it announced the departure of CFO Mark McCollum in March, they said. But Halliburton is “in good hands, has a deep bench within operations and should attract a highly qualified CFO. The company is currently interviewing candidates and hopes to announce a new CFO in the months ahead,” the Citigroup analysts said.

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WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) — Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said Thursday he expects Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to continue to pay its dividends to the government, despite the financial conditions of the firms. The Treasury Secretary told a Senate Banking Committee hearing that he has had several discussions about Fannie and Freddie Mac with Mel Watt, director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, which has oversight over the enterprises. “I did tell him that it was our expectation at Treasury that they would pay us the dividend and we hope they continue to do so per the agreement,” Mnuchin said. Watt had told Congress last week that he has the right to suspend the quarterly dividend payment if he believes that payout would jeopardize the safety and smooth functioning of the enterprises.

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