Category: Stock Market News

Starbucks Corp. said it’s jumping on the unicorn trend with its Unicorn Frappuccino, available from April 19 through April 23. The pink blended drink is made with mango syrup, sour blue drizzle and a sweet pink powder, topped with vanilla whipped cream. The Unicorn Frappuccino starts purple with swirls of blue, tasting sweet and fruity, but once stirred turns pink and becomes tangy and tart, Starbucks said Tuesday. The drink will be available in the U.S., Canada and Mexico. Starbucks shares are up 0.7% in Wednesday trading, and up 5.8% for the year to date. The S&P 500 index is up 5% for the year so far.

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The U.S. stock market opened slightly higher on Wednesday as investors assessed mixed first-quarter earnings releases. Morgan Stanley jumped after earnings that topped expectations, but shares of IBM Corp dropped sharply after an earnings miss. The S&P 500 opened 8 points, or 0.4%, higher at 2,350. The Nasdaq Composite advanced 28 points, or 0.5%, to 5,877 at the open. The Dow Jones Industrial Average began the session up 15 points, or 0.1%, at 20,539.

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Former British finance minister George Osborne will leave his position as a member of the British parliament, the London Evening Standard reported Wednesday. Osborne, 45, became the editor of that newspaper last month. “I am stepping down from the House of Commons – for now. But I will remain active in the debate about our country’s future and on the issues I care about, like the success of the Northern Powerhouse,” the Conservative Party member wrote in a letter to his constituency, according to the report. News of his resignation came a day after U.K. Prime Minister Theresa May called an early general election to be held on June 8. Osborne was replaced as Britain’s Chancellor of the Exchequer in the wake of a government shakeup after the Brexit referendum in June 2016. In January, Osborne was named as a part-time adviser at fund manager BlackRock.

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The price target for United Continental Holdings Inc. , parent of United Airlines, was raised to $87 from $84 at Raymond James Wednesday, as the analysts say backlash from the incident with a passenger will likely have just a “small” impact on the company’s bookings. The company beat first-quarter earnings expectations on Monday and issued guidance for passenger revenue per available seat mile above the analysts’ estimates. “We do not believe the guide is in jeopardy due to the public/media response to last week’s troubling event,” wrote Savanthi Syth, the lead analyst on the report, referring to an incident in which a passenger was dragged off a United Airlines flight. United does have cultural issues to address that have been holding back the company, Syth writes, but he believes that the company’s new executive team as well as reviews that are underway “should go a long way to addressing it.” The analysts maintained an outperform rating on the stock. Shares of United were up 1% in premarket trade. United shares have fallen 2% week-to-date, while the S&P 500 has gained 0.6%.

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LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton SE was upgraded to outperform from market perform at Cowen & Co. on Wednesday based on its ability to fend off Amazon.com Inc. through qualities like craftsmanship and consumer trust. The price target was raised to €245 from €192. The luxury business is seen as more resilient to the Amazon threat. And LVMH is well-positioned in that sector based on the warm reception to its latest product launches, share gains in watches and jewelry, the prospects for its Sephora beauty business, and the healthy consumer appetite for luxury goods in Asia and the U.S. LVMH shares are up nearly 34% for the past year while the S&P 500 index is up 11.5% for the period.

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Shares of IBM Corp. fell more than 5% premarket Wednesday as investors digested weaker-than-expected quarterly sales, and analysts unleashed a wave of bearish notes. RBC Capital Markets lowered its 12-month price target on IBM’s stock to $180 from $185 and reiterated a sector perform rating, saying sales growth may be limited in the near term. Investors may be waiting for more tangible signs of earnings growth before getting bullish on the company, which has been transitioning to a cloud services company, RBC said. Analysts at Stifel took a longer approach, reiterating a buy rating and $192 price target. They said the post-earnings selloff may present an “opportunistic entry point.” The average rating on the stock is the equivalent to neutral, while the average price target is $170.05, according to a FactSet survey of roughly 30 analysts. Shares of IBM traded around $160.96 in premarket trade. They’ve gained 2% in the past three months and 18% in the past year. The Dow Jones Industrial Average , a 30-member index that includes IBM, has increased 4% in the past three months and 14% in the past year. The broader S&P 500 is up 3.5% in three months and 11.5% in the past year.

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Shares of industrial company Cemtrex Inc. jumped 5.6% in premarket trade Wednesday, after the company said it’s paying its first ever cash dividend of $1 a share. The Farmingdale, New York-based company said it made the decision to broaden its investor base and tap those mutual funds that only invest in dividend-paying stocks. The payout of $1 a share will be made today to shareholders of record as of March 31. “We have sufficient cash flow and confidence in the future to give us comfort that we can afford to fund both a dividend and our ongoing acquisition program,” Chief Executive Saagar Govil said in a statement. Cemtrex shares have fallen 56% in 2017, while the S&P 500 has gained 4.6%.

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Shares of Libbey Inc. plunged 10% in premarket trade Wednesday, putting them on track to open at a 5 1/2-year low, after the glass tableware maker warned investors that it expected to swing to a loss in the first quarter. The company said it expects a net loss in the range of $6 million to $8 million, compared with a profit of about $700,000 a year ago. The FactSet consensus was for a profit of 4 cents a share. The company said that in addition to the expected pressures on profit from furnace rebuilds and some technology investments, the company suffered unfavorable price and product mix as it fought to protect market share and cope with “intense global price competition.” The stock had tumbled 28% year to date through Tuesday, while the S&P 500 had gained 4.6%.

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Interational Business Machines Corp.’s stock is acting as a sea anchor for the Dow Jones Industrial Average , which would be indicated much higher if not for the stock’s tumble in premarket trade. IBM shares were shedding or $7.74, 4.6%, to $162.31 ahead of the open, after the technology giant reported late Tuesday first-quarter revenue that missed expectations. That would would shave about 53 points off the Dow’s price. Dow futures were up 26 points. IBM’s stock was on track to open at the lowest level since Dec. 7.

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BlackRock Inc. reported Wednesday first-quarter net income that rose to $862 million, or $5.23 a share, from $657 million, or $3.92 a share, in the same period a year ago. Excluding non-recurring items, adjusted earnings per share of $5.23 beat the FactSet consensus of $4.89. Revenue increased 8% to $2.82 billion, but was just shy of the FactSet consensus of $2.86 billion. Retail long-term net inflows were $4.6 billion, as $5.0 billion in international inflows offset $400 million in outflows from the U.S. Institutional active long-term net outflows of $1.0 billion included equity outflows of $4.7 billion and fixed income outflows of $1.3 billion, while multi-asset net inflows were $3.8 billion and alternatives net inflows were $1.2 billion. IShares ETF long-term net inflows were $64.5 billion, led by equity net inflows of $44.6 billion. “Both retail and institutional investors continued to utilize BlackRock’s iShares® ETFs as the building blocks for their portfolios and in combinations to drive active returns,” said Chief Executive Laurence Fink. The stock, which was still inactive in premarket trade, has ticked up 0.8% year to date, while the S&P 500 has gained 4.6%.

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