Category: Stock Market News

Shares of Sinclair Broadcast Group Inc. inched higher in the extended session Wednesday after a strong close following reports it was looking to buy Tribune Media Co. Shares of Sinclair rose 1.4% to $40.95 after hours, following a 3.1% gain during the regular session. Sinclair is looking to acquire Tribune in the high $30-a-share price range, according to a Bloomberg report. Tribune shares reached an intraday high of $40.01, before closing up 1.8% at $38.41, where they remained after hours.

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Select Comfort Corp. shares rallied in the extended session Wednesday after the maker of Sleep Number beds topped Wall Street estimates for the quarter and increased its forecast for the year. Select Comfort shares surged 13% to $29.28 after hours. The company reported first-quarter earnings of 56 cents a share on revenue of $393.3 million. Analysts surveyed by FactSet had estimated 45 cents a share on the revenue of $370.2 million. For the year, Select Comfort sees earnings of $1.25 to $1.50 a share, up from a previous range of $1.20 to $1.40 a share. Analysts had estimated $1.31 a share.

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Select Comfort Corp. shares rallied in the extended session Wednesday after the maker of Sleep Number beds topped Wall Street estimates for the quarter and increased its forecast for the year. Select Comfort shares surged 13% to $29.28 after hours. The company reported first-quarter earnings of 56 cents a share on revenue of $393.3 million. Analysts surveyed by FactSet had estimated 45 cents a share on the revenue of $370.2 million. For the year, Select Comfort sees earnings of $1.25 to $1.50 a share, up from a previous range of $1.20 to $1.40 a share. Analysts had estimated $1.31 a share.

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Shares of eBay Inc. fell 3% in after-hours trade Wednesday after the company reported earnings and provided an in-line guidance for the new fiscal year. The online marketplace reported adjusted net income of $538 million, or 49 cents a share, compared with $550 million, or 47 cents a share, in the year-earlier period. Analysts surveyed by FactSet were calling for earnings of 48 cents a share. Revenue for the period increased slightly to $2.2 billion from $2.1 billion, in-line with analyst expectations. For the full year, eBay said it anticipating earnings per share between $1.98 and $2.03 a share, which brackets the FactSet forecast of $2.02. It sees revenue in the range of $9.3 billion to $9.5 billion, in-line with the Wall Street guidance of $9.4 billion. EBay said it added 2 million active buyers during the quarter, bringing its total user base to 169 million. Shares of eBay traded down around $33.09 in after-hours trade. The stock has gained 10.2% in the past three months and 39.3% in the past year. The S&P 500 is up 3.3% in three months and 11.3% in the past twelve.

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Qualcomm Inc. , which is in the throes of a legal fight with customer Apple Inc. , beat earnings expectations with a quarterly report Wednesday, sending shares up in late trading. The chipmaker declared quarterly profit of $749 million, or 50 cents a share, on revenue of $5 billion. After adjusting profit for stock-based compensation and a host of other factors, Qualcomm claimed earnings of $1.34 a share. After adjusting revenue to strip out an arbitration award won by BlackBerry Ltd. , Qualcomm claimed sales of $6 billion. Analysts on average expected Qualcomm to report adjusted earnings of $1.19 a share on sales of $5.86 billion, according to FactSet; Qualcomm had projected an earnings range of $1.15 to $1.25 a share. Qualcomm acknowledged uncertainty stemming from its fight with Apple, noting that its forecast for the current quarter — 67 cents to 92 cents a share — was a wider range than usual due to the dispute. “It is not clear whether Apple’s contract manufacturers will underpay royalties owed under their contracts with us in the third quarter of fiscal 2017, which could have a negative impact on our financial results,” Qualcomm acknowledged in its announcement. Qualcomm stock rose 1.7% in immediate after-hours trading, hitting $53.50 after closing the session with a 0.1% decline at $52.61.

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Energy stocks were under pressure Wednesday as crude-oil prices settled at a two-and-a-half week low. A popular way to track oil stocks, the Energy Select Sector SPDR ETF , declined 1.5%, putting the ETF on track for its worst one-day decline since April 13, according to FactSet data. The ETF, which closely follows the S&P 500’s energy sector, was led lower by a 3.8% drop in Marathon Oil Corp. and Newfield Exploration Co. , trading 3% lower. The energy sector was the worst performer among the S&P 500 index’s 11 sectors and dragging the broader market into negative territory late in the session. Sparking the decline in energy was a nearly 4% drop in crude-oil prices, with May West Texas Intermediate crude contract settling below $51 a barrel. Market participants attributed the drop in oil to a combination of volatility caused by the expiration of the May WTI contract, which is set for Thursday. Energy names also pulled the Dow Jones Industrial Average lower, topped by a 1.5% loss in shares of Chevron Corp. . The Dow was off 0.6%, while the S&P 500 was down 0.2%, with about a half-hour left in Wednesday trade.

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Michaels Cos. Inc. has partnered with Pinterest for limited-edition “Make It Kits” that contain all of the supplies necessary to create projects seen on the social media site. The first kit will be “Shibori for Your Home,” containing materials for three different Shibori-style dyeing techniques, tea towels, instructions and other items needed for the project. Searches on Pinterest for Shibori-style dyeing have risen 56% in the past year. Michaels Rewards members can buy a Make It Kit starting April 20, with wider online availability starting April 21. Michaels shares are up 1.2% in Wednesday trading, and up 15.6% for the year to date. The S&P 500 index is up 4.3% for 2017 so far.

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Fox News anchor Bill O’Reilly will not be returning to the network, parent 21st Century Fox told The Wall Street Journal on Wednesday, confirming earlier reports. The anchor, who is currently vacationing in Europe, has been swept up in a wave of controversy in recent weeks after the New York Times reported that the host and Fox News had paid $13 million to settle five sexual-harrasment lawsuits over the years. The news spurred an advertiser boycott of his show, which is the network’s biggest ratings hit. Media reports overnight said Fox and representatives for O’Reilly had been working on an exit strategy. “After a thorough and careful review of the allegations, the Company and Bill O’Reilly have agreed that Bill O’Reilly will not be returning to the Fox News Channel,” 21st Century Fox said in a statement Wednesday. The company offered no further comment. 21st Century Fox and MarketWatch, Barron’s and Wall Street Journal parent company News Corp were under the same corporate umbrella until four years ago.

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Oil prices dropped Wednesday, with prices settling at a two-and-a-half week low. An unexpected weekly climb in U.S. gasoline supplies had fueled earlier losses, which worsened amid volatile trading tied to Thursday’s expiration of the May West Texas Intermediate crude contract. WTI prices dropped below $51 after the release of the Federal Reserve’s Beige Book. There was “generally nothing in the Beige Book that would stop the Fed from raising rates in June, so the dollar rallied and added to oil’s expiration lows,” said Phil Flynn, senior market analyst at Price Futures Group. May WTI crude lost $1.97, or 3.8%, to settle at $50.44 a barrel.

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Adidas AG said it will make 5,000 pairs of its new Futurecraft 4D shoes, made with a 3D-printed midsole, by fall/winter 2017. The midsole is designed using years of running data and through a partnership with Carbon. The Silicon Valley tech company has created a process, Digital Light Synthesis, that uses light, oxygen and liquid resins to create the sole. In addition, the process overcomes the hurdles of traditional 3D printing like speed, scale and poor surface quality. Adidas plans to sell more than 100,000 pairs by the end of 2018. Adidas shares are down 0.4% in Wednesday trading, and up 63.3% for the past year. The S&P 500 index is up 11.5% for the last 12 months.

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