Category: Stock Market News

Netflix Inc. on Wednesday announced the hit show “Arrested Development” will return to the streaming service for a fifth season in 2018. In commenting on the show’s return, series creator Mitchell Hurwitz hinted that bringing it back was inspired by its resemblance to the family life of President Donald Trump. “In talks with Netflix we all felt that stories about a narcissistic, erratically behaving family in the building business — and their desperate abuses of power — are really underrepresented on TV these days,” Hurwitz said in a statement. “I am so grateful to them and to [20th Century Fox] TV for making this dream of mine come true in bringing the Bluths, George Sr., Lucille and the kids; Michael, Ivanka, Don Jr., Eric, George-Michael, and who am I forgetting, oh Tiffany. Did I say Tiffany? — back to the glorious stream of life.” “Arrested Development” was Netflix’s foray into original comedy programming when it launched season four in 2013, said Netflix Chief Content Officer Ted Sarandos. And Fox Television Group Co-CEOs Dana Walden and Gary Newman said the show is still one they get asked about the most, after being off the air for 11 years. Netflix shares, while down 2% on Wednesday, have gained 26% in the year to date. The S&P 500 index is up 6% in the year.

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Apple Inc.’s stock price target was increased to $177 from $161 at Morgan Stanley on Wednesday, with another analyst pricing in expectations for a potential “super cycle” beginning with the next-generation iPhone launch in September. Analyst Katy Huberty, citing data from a 1,000-person survey of U.S. consumers, said a maturing installed base of iPhones has led to pent-up demand, which may prompt people to upgrade their phones when the iPhone 8 – Apple’s most hyped phone since the iPhone 6 – launches later this year. Analysts are forecasting record fiscal 2018 iPhone sales, following the company’s first-ever annual decline in sales for its flagship product category last year. One sour spot in the Morgan Stanley data, however, is that fewer people are expected to switch to iOS from a rival operating system, due to competition from Samsung Electronics and smaller rivals. Shares of Apple fell 2.4% to $151.75 in late-morning trade, following a broad market selloff that had the S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average each down 1.1%. They’ve outperformed the market over the past 12 months, increasing 62% compared with an 18% increase for the Dow.

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The Dow Jones Industrial Average and the S&P 500 early Wednesday traded below their 50-day moving averages–a trend line that market technicians follow to help to determine short-term trends in an asset. The Dow was off 280 points, or 1.3%, at 20,699, in most recent trade, below its 50-day moving average at 20,783.50, according to FactSet data. The S&P 500 index , meanwhile, was trading down 32 points, or 1.4%, at 2,368, below its 50-day moving average of 2,369.50. The move threatens to push the benchmarks to their worst daily drops in about months and comes as the broader market was convulsing lower. The Nasdaq Composite Index is off 112 points, or 1.8%, at 6,057. The downturn for stocks comes amid intensifying concerns about President Donald Trump’s ability to implement pro-growth legislation that has helped the market hit repeated records in recent trade. According to a New York Times report late Tuesday, the president in February asked then-Federal Bureau of Investigation Director James Comey to shut down an investigation into the actions of former National Security adviser Mike Flynn a day after Flynn’s resignation. The Dow’s decline below its short-term moving average is the first time since around April, when both the S&P 500 and Dow entered a downtrend.

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Selling in the stock market is broadly based and heavy, but market internals show no signs of panic, which suggests investors are not yet worried about a lasting decline. The Dow Jones Industrial Average tumbled 243 points, the S&P 500 shed 1.1% and the Nasdaq Composite slid 1.4%. The number of declining stocks are outnumbering advancers by a 2,236-to-584 margin on the NYSE and by a 2,159 to 367 score on the Nasdaq. And volume of declining stocks is 78.8% of total volume o the Big Board and 85.7% of the total on the Nasdaq. But the Arms Index, which is a volume-weighted measure of market breadth many use to measure selling intensity, is up to just 1.024 on the NYSE and to 1.113 on the Nasdaq. The Arms Index tends to rise above the equilibrium reading of 1.000 as stocks fall, because the more intense the selling, the higher the volume in declining stocks relative to the number of declining stocks; basically, investor tend to sell decliners with more intensity than they buy advancers. Many who follow the Arms believe a rise above 2.000 implies panic selling, or capitulation by bulls, which could suggest a bounce would be coming. But at current readings, the Arms Indexes suggest the selling is still calm and collected.

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The Dow Jones Industrial Average early Wednesday traded below its 50-day moving average–a trend line that market technicians follow to help to determine short-term trends in an asset. The Dow was off 241 points, or 1.2%, at 20,737, in most recent trade, below its 50-day moving average at 20,783.50, according to FactSet data. The move threatens to push the blue-chip gauge to its worst daily drop in about eight months and comes as the two other main equity markets are convulsing lower. The S&P 500 index was down 27 points, or 1.1%, at 2,373, while the Nasdaq Composite Index is off 89 points, or 1.5%, at 6,081. The downturn for stocks comes amid intensifying concerns about President Donald Trump’s ability to implement pro-growth legislation that has helped the market hit repeated records in recent trade. According to a New York Times report late Tuesday, the president in February asked then-Federal Bureau of Investigation Director James Comey to shut down an investigation into the actions of former National Security adviser Mike Flynn a day after Flynn’s resignation. The Dow’s decline below its short-term moving average is the first time since around April, when both the S&P 500 and Dow entered a downtrend.

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The U.S. stock market early Wednesday was on pace to log its worst daily decline in about eight weeks as concerns about President Donald Trump’s FBI controversy weighed on investor sentiment. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 0.9% at 20,794, the S&P 500 index was off 0.8% at 2,382, while the technology-laden Nasdaq Composite Index was down 0.9% at 6,115. The early decline puts the major indexes on pace to post their biggest one-session drops since March 21, according to FactSet data. The downdraft comes on a so-called risk-off day for Wall Street, with haven assets like the 10-year Treasury note [BX: TMUBMUSD10Y] drawing bidders and pushing yields, which move inversely to price, firmly lower. The 10-year Treasury note was off 5.8 basis points at 2.27%, and gold futures , another haven security, were up 1.5% at $1,254.40 an ounce. Weakness came after The New York Times late Tuesday reported that Trump in February asked then-Federal Bureau of Investigation Director James Comey to stop his investigation into former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn. The report cited a memo from Comey. That has raised questions about the president’s ability to implement pro-market policies that have driven stocks to recent records.

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U.S. stocks opened lower on Wednesday as the latest bit of political turmoil cast further doubt about whether President Donald Trump could move forward with a legislative agenda that Wall Street sees as necessary to justifying market valuations. The Dow Jones Industrial Average shed 176 points, or 0.8%, to 20,806. The S&P 500 slumped 16 points to 2,384, a decline of 0.7%. Wednesday was the biggest one-day drop for the S&P in more than a month. The Nasdaq Composite Index lost 56 points, or 0.9%, to 6,113. The CBOE Volatility Index surged 19% and was on track for its biggest daily jump since September. The day’s losses were widespread, with nine of the S&P 500’s 11 primary sectors down on the day. Among the biggest decliners were financials , which shed 1.5%. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lost 1.9% in early trading while Bank of America sank 3%.

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Concert Pharmaceuticals Inc. shares dropped 9.7% to $14.50 Wednesday morning after the Food and Drug Administration put its hair loss drug on clinical hold. The regulator imposed the hold before subjects in the phase 2a trial were dosed, and said that it needed to review certain toxicology studies to support the one-year dosing planned for the trial. “The FDA did not cite a safety concern,” said Concert Pharma. The company plans to submit the requested reports soon, after which the FDA has 30 days to tell Concert Pharma whether it will lift the clinical hold. The drug in question, CTP-543, is intended for the autoimmune skin disease alopecia areata, which causes hair loss typically on the scalp and face, and affects nearly 7 million people in the U.S., according to the National Alopecia Areata Foundation. Concert Pharma shares have risen 44.1% over the last three months, compared with a 1.4% rise in the S&P 500 .

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A popular gauge of fear on Wall Street early Wednesday was on track to see it biggest dailly jump in 6 1/2 months, according to FactSet data. The CBOE Volatility Index , or VIX, was up nearly 14%, at 12.14 is its biggest daily move since Nov. 3, according to FactSet data. That level for the so-called fear gauge is relatively low, compared with its long-term average of 20, but comes just a week after the fear gauge touched its lowest close since 1993. The jump in the VIX, which measures expectations for market swings in the S&P 500 index 30 days in the future, comes amid mounting worries about President Donald Trump’s ability to make good on pledges to enact market-friendly policies, following a series of news reports. The latest from the New York Times and alleges that Trump in February asked the then-director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation to “let go’ an investigation into Trump’s former-National Security Adviser Michael Flynn. The report indicates that Trump made the request a day after Flynn resigned is national security post. Last week, Trump fired Comey, creating a firestorm inside and outside of Washington and casting doubt on his ability to pass legislation in Congress. Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average [YMM7] were off 166 points, or 0.8%, while the S&P 500 futures are down 18 points, or 0.8^%. Futures for the Nasdaq-100 are down 42 points or 0.7%. On Tuesday, The Dow and the S&P 500 closed mostly flat on Tuesday but the Nasdaq Composite Index hit a record.

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Amazon.com Inc. introduced the new Fire tablets on Wednesday, the Fire 7 and the Fire HD. The Fire 7 now has a seven-inch display, longer battery life, and better wifi connectivity, the company said. It’s priced at about $50. The Fire HD 8 has an eight-inch display, up to 12 hours of battery life and 16 GB of storage. It’s priced at about $80. Both are equipped with Alexa, and both are available Wednesday for pre-order. They start shipping on June 7. Both are also available in a kids edition that includes a “kid-proof” blue case. As an introductory offer, customers who purchase any three Fire tablets will get 20% off. Amazon shares are down 1.1% in premarket trading, but up nearly 29% for the year so far. The S&P 500 index is up 7.2% for 2017 to date.

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