Category: Stock Market News

Tesla Inc. Chief Executive Elon Musk tweeted Thursday that the Silicon Valley company hopes to unveil a freight truck in September, calling it “seriously next level.” The unveiling would come just a couple of months ahead of the launch of the Model 3, the small sedan Tesla hopes to sell for $35,000. On a blog post last year about long-term goals for the company, Musk mentioned an electric heavy-duty truck and a “high passenger density urban transport” vehicle, presumably a bus, as well as two other passenger vehicles as the next steps for Tesla. Tesla shares added to gains after the tweet, trading as high as $302.88.

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Gold prices stretched their rally into a third straight session Thursday, as losses in the U.S. dollar lifted the metal to its highest finish in more than five months. The greenback posted sharp declines after President Donald Trump, in an interview with The Wall Street Journal published Wednesday, said the dollar is “getting too strong.” June gold rose $10.40, or 0.8%, to settle at $1,288.50 an ounce. That was the strongest finish for futures prices since Nov. 4, according to FactSet data.

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Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Thursday introduced legislation to legalize recreational marijuana, fulfilling a campaign promise. A press conference took place following the announcement and was live streamed on the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. website. During the news conference lawmakers focused on “protecting youth” and reduce organized crime. The plan is to legalize marijuana for those at least 18 years old and above by July 2018. If passed Canada would become the second country behind Uruguay to fully legalize recreational marijuana. Canadian-based Horizons Medical Marijuana Life Sciences ETF was down more than 2% on Thursday, but has gained about 8% in the last week.

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Baker Hughes on Thursday reported that the number of active U.S. rigs drilling for oil rose by 11 to 683 rigs this week. That marks a thirteenth weekly climb in a row. The total active U.S. rig count, which includes oil and natural-gas rigs, also climbed by 8 to 847, according to Baker Hughes. May West Texas Intermediate crude fell 15 cents, or 0.3%, at $52.96 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange for the session. It was trading at $53.01 before the data.

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United Parcel Service Inc. and FedEx Corp. could be facing significant risk to their business after Wal-Mart Stores Inc. said it would offer discounts to some online orders if customers choose in-store pickup rather than home delivery. Analyst Ravi Shanker at Morgan Stanley said Wal-Mart’s move marks “a seminal event” in the evolution of last-mile parcel delivery for e-commerce. “This announcement shows that [Wal-Mart] has realized that omnichannel logistics is significantly cheaper than individual parcel delivery and that moves of this nature will allow brick-and-mortar stores to see if customers prefer price or convenience,” Shanker wrote in a note to clients. Given UPS’s and FedEx’s exposure to non-Amazon.com Inc. e-commerce businesses, he believes a shift to click-and-collect model could have a large impact on package delivery companies. Shanker rates UPS underweight, saying the company faces more risk than FedEx, which he rates equal weight. UPS’s stock, which shed 1.4% Wednesday after Wal-Mart’s announcement, slipped 0.1% on Thursday toward a 10-month closing low. FedEx shares tumbled 3.5% Wednesday and fell another 0.5% on Thursday. UPS shares have lost 9.1% year to date, while FedEx’s stock has lost 0.5% and the S&P 500 has gained 4.4%.

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An attorney for Dr. David Dao, the United Airlines passenger forcibly removed from his flight on a Sunday, said the incident is “probably” going to result in a lawsuit against the air carrier. On Thursday, Dao’s attorney from personal injury law firm Corboy & Demetrio in Chicago said Dao had a bad concussion, lost two front teeth and suffered a broken nose and injuries to his sinuses, for which he will undergo reconstructive surgery, related to the incident. Speaking at a Thursday news conference, the attorney, Thomas Demetrio, said his 69-year-old client’s experience–a native of Vietnam–was “more harrowing” than fleeing Vietnam. “So, will there be a lawsuit? yeah probably” against United Continental Holdings Inc. , the parent of United Airlines. The attorney also said the city of Chicago might be liable for the incident, which was videoed by two passengers on the flight and went viral. United CEO Oscar Munoz issued a series of apologies: “I want you to know that we take full responsibility and we will work to make it right.” United’s shares were little changed, in Thursday trade, off less than 0.1% after the news conference. Comparatively the S&P 500 index and the Dow Jones Industrial Average , were both trading flat in a holiday-shortened week. United’s stock has shed about $500 million in market capitalization since the incident emerged on Monday, resulting in a wave of public backlash.

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Shares of Polaris Industries Inc. slumped 1% in midday trade Thursday, after the off-road vehicle maker said it was recalling about 51,000 recreational off-road vehicles (ROVs) after reports of fires. The recall involves all 2015 model-year Ranger XP 900, XP 900 EPS and Crew 900 ROVs, which were sold in a variety of colors and have either three or six seats. The vehicles, made in the U.S. and Mexico, were sold from dealers nationwide from April 2014 through March 2017, for between $13,400 and $21,300. “Polaris has received 13 incident reports involving the recalled ROVs, including five reports of fires,” the company said in a statement. “No injuries have been reported.” The stock has shed 7.5% year to date, while the S&P 500 has gained 4.8%.

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Instagram Stories surpassed Snapchat in terms of daily active users, the Facebook-owned brand said Thursday. Instagram Stories said it had reached 200 million DAUs, while Snap last reported 161 million daily active users in February. The rise of Instagram Stories, which launched in August 2016, has been a concern for Snap analysts and for the company itself, as they listed increasing competition as a risk to their business in their prospectus. The launch of Instagram Stories roughly coincided with a decline in daily active user growth at Snap. Shares of Facebook were up 0.5% Thursday, while Snap shares were down 1%.

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Abbott Laboratories shares dropped 1.9% in morning trade Thursday after the Food and Drug Administration released a warning letter to the company about the way it manufactures its medical devices. Though Abbott recalled certain implantable cardioverter defibrillators, which are used to treat irregular heartbeats, in October, 10 of the medical devices were later shipped out and an additional seven were put into patients, the FDA said. In this and other issues, Abbott didn’t provide evidence of its corrective and preventive actions in its response to the FDA, the regulator said. If the letter’s points aren’t addressed promptly, the FDA said it may start regulatory actions such as seizure, injunction and civil money penalties, or there could be consequences for federal contracts or FDA approvals for related devices. Abbott leadership, which has 15 days to respond to the letter, “does not expect today’s warning letter to negatively impact products currently on the market, although it may affect new product approvals,” including approvals for devices expected in the fourth quarter, said UBS analyst Matt Miksic. He said to expect more information when Abbott reports first-quarter earnings results, scheduled for Wednesday premarket. Abbott shares have risen 21.9% over the last three months, compared with a 3.2% rise in the S&P 500 .

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Data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration Thursday showed that domestic supplies of natural gas rose by 10 billion cubic feet for the week ended April 7. Analysts polled by S&P Global Platts expected an increase of between 9 billion and 13 billion cubic feet. Total stocks now stand at 2.061 trillion cubic feet, down 416 billion cubic feet from a year ago, but 263 billion cubic feet above the five-year average, the government said. May natural gas rose 3.3 cents, or 1%, from Wednesday’s settlement to $3.22 per million British thermal units.

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