Category: Stock Market News

Former New England Patriots star Aaron Hernandez took his own life in prison early Wednesday morning, according to a statement from the Department of Correction in Massachusetts, where Hernandez was serving a life sentence for a murder conviction. Hernandez, housed in a single cell in a general population unit, hanged himself with a bed sheet after blocking his cell door, the statement said. He was pronounced dead at a local hospital. The former NFL player’s suicide comes just five days after he was acquitted of murdering two men in Boston in 2012. However, he was still serving a life without parole sentence for murdering Odin Lloyd in 2013.

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Former President George H.W. Bush has been hospitalized in Houston for four days with a recurrence of pneumonia he had earlier in the year, a family spokesman said in a statement late Tuesday. The statement said doctors diagnosed a mild case of pneumonia that has been treated and resolved. Bush, who served as president from 1989 to 1993, had spent 16 days in the hospital for treatment of pneumonia in January. The 92-year-old father of former president George W. Bush has a variation of Parkinson’s disease and uses a motorized scooter or a wheelchair for mobility.

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British lawmakers later Wednesday are largely expected to vote in favor of Prime Minister Theresa May’s plan for a general election on June 8. The Labour and Liberal Democrat parties — rivals to May’s Conservative Party — have welcomed the early election, media reports have noted. The vote in parliament is anticipated at around lunchtime in London. May on Tuesday said she’d seek an early election to get a strong majority that would eliminate divisions in parliament ahead of the crucial Brexit negotiations with the European Union.

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Shares of Ultragenyx Pharmaceutical Inc. soared in Tuesday’s extended session after the company announced positive results from a phase 3 study of a drug to treat x-linked hypophosphatemia, a genetic kidney disorder. “Patients treated with burosumab demonstrated a statistically significant improvement in serum phosphorus levels, with 94% of patients achieving normal levels compared to 8% on placebo,” said the company in a statement. As the next step, the drug company plans to hold discussions with regulatory agencies in the U.S. and Europe. The study was jointly conducted with Japan’s Kyowa Hakko Kirin Co. Ultragenyx jumped 19% after hours.

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The American Petroleum Institute late Tuesday reported a fall of 840,000 barrels in U.S. crude supplies for the week ended April 14, according to sources. The API data, however, also showed a climb of 1.4 million barrels in gasoline supplies, while inventories of distillates declined by 1.8 million barrels, sources said. Supply data from the Energy Information Administration will be released Wednesday morning. Analysts polled by S&P Global Platts forecast a decrease of 50,000 barrels in crude inventories. May crude was at $52.29 a barrel in electronic trading, down from the contract’s settlement of $52.41 on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

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Shares of Intuitive Surgical Inc. rallied in Tuesday’s extended session after the medical-devices maker posted strong quarterly results. Intuitive Surgical reported its first-quarter earnings rose to $179.8 million, or $4.67 a share, from $136.4 million, or $3.54 a share, a year earlier. On an adjusted basis, the company would have earned $5.09 a share. Revenue increased to $674.2 million versus $594.5 million a year ago. Analysts surveyed by FactSet had forecast the company to report earnings of $4.97 a share on revenue of $666 million. Intuitive Surgical said it shipped 133 da Vinci robotic surgery systems in the first quarter, up from 110 in the same period last year. Shares gained 3% after hours.

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Shares of IBM Corp. fell 4% in after-hours trade Tuesday after the company reported year-over-year revenue and earnings declines. The PC-turned-software company reported first-quarter net income of $1.75 million, or $1.85 a share, compared with $2 billion, or $2.09 a share, in the year-earlier period. Excluding one-time items, IBM reported earnings of $2.38 a share, topping the FactSet consensus estimate of $2.35. Revenue for the three-month period fell to $18.16 billion from $18.7 billion last year, and missed the Street estimate of $18.4 billion. That was despite a 60% improvement in its software-as-a-service business. IBM maintained its fiscal 2017 outlook calling for earnings of at least $13.80 a share. Analysts surveyed by FactSet are projecting full-year earnings of $13.77 a share. IBM’s shares traded down around $163.34 in after-hours trade. They’ve recently underperformed both the Dow Jones Industrial Average and S&P 500 . The stock gained 2% in the past three months and 12% in the past year, while the Dow 30 gained 4% in three and 14% in the past year.

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Oil prices fell Tuesday, building on losses seen a day earlier. Prices held ground at their lowest level in more than a week, with traders showing concern that recent data point to the likelihood of further growth in U.S. crude production. Expectations that Saudi Arabia and Russia are sticking to their pledge to cut output, however, kept losses for oil prices in check. May West Texas Intermediate crude shed 24 cents, or 0.5%, to settle at $52.41 a barrel.

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United Continental Holdings Inc.’s stock slumped 4% in afternoon trade, enough to make it the biggest decliner on the Dow Jones Transportation Average , after the air carrier reported first-quarter results. The United Airlines’ parent’s stock-price decline of $2.86 shaved about 16 points off the Dow transports, which were down 0.35%. Chief Financial Officer Andrew Levy said in the post-earnings-report conference call with analysts Tuesday that the carrier’s corporate customers have expressed concern over last week’s event, in which a passenger was dragged forcibly off a plane to make room for traveling United employees. “They want us to fix this. They want us to do the right thing,” Levy said, according to a transcript of the call provided by FactSet. He said the concerns have been managed well and the corporate accounts are largely supportive. Chief Executive Oscar Munoz said the carrier was involving its front-line employees and some customers to help take a more “commonsense” approach. He plans to communicate on April 30 the results of the review and actions to be taken in response to last week’s event. The stock has shed 6.8% in 2017, while the NYSE Arca Airline Index has eased 0.1%, the Dow transports have slipped 1% and the S&P 500 has gained 4.7%

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Gold prices shook off earlier losses Tuesday to finish higher for a fifth straight session. Prices got a boost as the ICE U.S. Dollar Index traded near the session’s low, providing support for the yellow metal, which is traded in the greenback. Political uncertainty in France and the U.K. and declines in U.S. equities also contributed to gold’s gains. June gold rose $2.20, or 0.2%, to settle at $1,294.10 an ounce.

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