Category: Stock Market News

Oil prices turned higher Wednesday after data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration showed that domestic crude supplies fell 3.6 million barrels for the week ended April 21. The American Petroleum Institute late Tuesday reported a rise of 897,000 barrels, while analysts polled by S&P Global Platts forecast a fall of 1 million barrels. Gasoline stockpiles rose by 3.4 million barrels, while distillate stockpiles were up 2.7 million barrels last week, according to the EIA. The S&P Global Platts survey had forecast sizable declines for both products. June crude rose 28 cents, or 0.6%, to $49.85 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. It traded at $49.28 before the supply data.

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Express Scripts Holding Co. shares surged 3.1% to $61.81 in morning trade Wednesday after Anthem Inc. , its largest client, said no final decision had been made with regard to a 2020 contract that Express Scripts had previously said was imperiled. Express Scripts stock dropped 10.8% in Wednesday trade after its comments about the Anthem contract, which made up nearly 20% of its revenue last year. Anthem wouldn’t comment specifically about Express Scripts but President and Chief Executive Officer Joseph Swedish said that “we’ve not made a final decision with respect to any vendor, and have stated clearly that we’ve not done so and we’ve not ruled anyone in or out.” With its Express Scripts contract due to expire at the end of 2019, Anthem issued requests for proposals in the first quarter and expects all responses to come in during the first half of this year. Though Anthem still maintains it is owed a “minimum” of $3 billion in costs — $3 billion that Express Scripts said this week it does not have — Swedish said “we are hopeful that we can resolve our dispute.” Anthem shares surged 3.6% in morning trade to $178.61. Express Scripts shares have sunk 10.7% over the last three months, compared with a 17.2% rise in Anthem stock and a 4.2% rise in the S&P 500 .

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Jack Dorsey, the chief executive of Twitter Inc. , would be making close to $25 million on his investment in Twitter Wednesday, after the company’s first-quarter earnings beat, based on FactSet data. Shares of Twitter were soaring 10.4% Wednesday morning. Dorsey is the seventh largest holder of stock in the company and also has options to buy 2 million additional shares at $3.115 that he has not exercised. Twitter Co-Founder Ev Williams, who recently announced plans to sell 30% of his stock in Twitter over the next year, is the second largest holder and would be making $67 million on his investment. Prince Al-Waleed bin Talal, Twitter’s third largest shareholder, would be making close to $55 million. Shares of Twitter have fallen 3.5% in the past three months, while the S&P 500 has gained 4%.

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Shares of U.S. Steel Corp. plunged 25% in morning trade Wednesday, putting them on course to suffer the biggest one-day selloff since they went public in April 1991, after the steelmaker reported a surprise quarterly loss. The previous biggest one-day drop was 18% on Oct. 15, 2008. The stock, which was by far the biggest percentage decliner listed on the NYSE, was trading at the lowest level seen since Nov. 8, 2016. At one point, the stock had nearly doubled after the election, to a 2 1/2-year high close of $41.26 on Feb. 21, before all the post-election gains were erased. Volume topped the full-day average of 19.0 million shares within 15 minutes after the open. The company reported late Tuesday an adjusted loss per share of 83 cents, compared with the FactSet consensus for a profit of 35 cents a share. Revenue of $2.73 billion also missed expectations of $2.95 billion. The stock has now shed 29% year to date, while the S&P 500 has gained 6.7%.

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U.S. stocks opened cautiously higher on Wednesday, but enough to help the Nasdaq touch a new all-time high, as investors awaited an announcement from President Donald Trump’s administration on a “massive” tax plan. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 16 points, or less than 0.1%, at 21,014 and the S&P 500 index traded up a point at 2,389. Meanwhile, the Nasdaq Composite Index , touched a new intraday trading high of 6,037.22, and was most recently trading flat at 6,025. In corporate news, shares of Twitter Inc. soared more than 9% after the social media company beat first-quarter earnings expectations. Trump has vowed to slash the corporate tax rate from 35% to 15%, and a plan is set to be announced at 1:30 p.m. Eastern.

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Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin confirmed on Wednesday that the White House tax plan will include a 15% corporate tax rate. That is down from the current 35%. Mnuchin also indicated the administration has shelved the so-called border adjustment tax for now, saying it doesn’t work “in its current form.” He said there will be more details on the plan later Wednesday, and that it would be the biggest tax cut in history.

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Consumer Reports has lowered safety ratings on Tesla Inc.’s Model S and Model X because the electric car marker has not enabled them with an automatic emergency braking safety feature it said would come as standard. Telsa has said it is working through problems with software, “but that has left owners without the promised feature, some for as long as six months,” the publication said Wednesday. Previous versions of both models came with AEB as standard, but models made between late October 2016 and now do not. Tesla told the publication it expects the software update to come as soon as Thursday. Consumer Reports adds points to its ratings of vehicles that offer AEB as a standard feature, valuing the technology for its ability to prevent crashes. Tesla shares were slightly lower premarket, but have gained a stunning 48% in 2017, while the S&P 500 has gained 6.6%.

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McDonald’s Corp. said Wednesday that it has partnered with Nintendo Co. Ltd. to bring eight toys based on Super Mario characters to Happy Meals from April 26 to May 22. The toys include Mario, Luigi and Princess Peach, and each will have a special function. There will also be a sweepstakes for a chance to win one in 100 Nintendo Switch Prize Packs, including a Nintendo Switch system and a Mario Kart 8 Deluxe game, which launches April 28. McDonald’s shares are down 0.2% in premarket trading, but up 9.8% for the year so far. Nintendo shares are up 12.6% for the year to date, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average is up 6.7% for the period.

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From:: Stock Market News

McDonald’s Corp. said Wednesday that it has partnered with Nintendo Co. Ltd. to bring eight toys based on Super Mario characters to Happy Meals from April 26 to May 22. The toys include Mario, Luigi and Princess Peach, and each will have a special function. There will also be a sweepstakes for a chance to win one in 100 Nintendo Switch Prize Packs, including a Nintendo Switch system and a Mario Kart 8 Deluxe game, which launches April 28. McDonald’s shares are down 0.2% in premarket trading, but up 9.8% for the year so far. Nintendo shares are up 12.6% for the year to date, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average is up 6.7% for the period.

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The Boeing Co. shares fell 1.1% in premarket trade Wednesday, after the company’s first-quarter revenue came in below expectations. The aerospace company said it had net income of $1.45 billion, or $2.34 a share, in the first quarter, up from $1.22 billion, or $1.83 a share, in the year-earlier period. Adjusted per-share earnings came to $2.01, ahead of the FactSet consensus of $1.91. Revenue fell to $20.9 billion from $22.6 billion, just below the FactSet consensus of $21.3 billion. “We remain on track to achieve our full-year revenue, earnings and cash flow targets as our teams deliver on our large and diverse order backlog,” Chief Executive Dennis Muilenburg said in a statement. The company raised its full-year EPS outlook to a range of $10.35 to $10.55 from a prior range of $10.25 to $10.45. It raised its adjusted full-year outlook to $9.20 to $9.40 from a prior range of $9.10 to $9.30. Revenue is expected to range from $90.5 billion to $92.5 billion. Shares have gained 19% in 2017, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average has gained 6%.

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