Category: Stock Market News

Apple Inc. has put together a team in Silicon Valley to work on sensors that can noninvasively track wearers’ blood sugar, CNBC reported Wednesday based on anonymous sources. Diabetics must constantly monitor their blood sugar, and the ability to do so without drawing blood could make wearables such as the Apple Watch a big draw for those with the disease. Alphabet Inc. has been openly looking for such a solution for years, announcing a partnership with Novartis AG in 2014 to develop contact lenses that could monitor glucose levels and an effort with Sanofi SA in 2016. CNBC reported that Apple has been conducting feasibility studies of its technology, which a source said could be based on optical sensors.

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Berkshire Hathaway Inc. said late Wednesday it sold more than 7 million shares of Wells Fargo & Co. between April 10 and April 12, and it intended to file a report with the Securities and Exchange Commission later Wednesday to reflect that sale. Berkshire plans to sell nearly 2 million shares of Wells Fargo in the “near future,” the conglomerate said in a statement. The sales “are not being made because of investment or valuation considerations,” Berkshire said. “Rather they are solely motivated by the desire to return to a percentage ownership below the 10% notification threshold” required by a couple of regulations, it said. About a year ago, Wells Fargo’s share buybacks caused Berkshire’s ownership interest in the bank to exceed 10%, and the percentage interest would “slowly creep up” if Wells Fargo continued with the stock repurchase, Berkshire said. After several months of discussions with Federal Reserve representatives, Berkshire concluded Fed-required commitments to retain ownership of 10% or more of Wells Fargo’s outstanding common stock “would materially restrict our commercial activity with Wells Fargo,” and it would be simpler to keep ownership under 10%, the company said. Berkshire intends to reduce its ownership in Wells Fargo common stock below 10% within 60 trading days, it said. Wells Fargo shares were down 0.3% in late trading, while Berkshire’s were up less than 0.1%.

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The S&P financial sector fell on Wednesday and turned negative for the year, in the latest indication that one of the strongest trades of the postelection rally is unraveling. The sector lost 0.9% on Wednesday, while the Financial Select Sector SPDR ETF , the largest exchange-traded fund to specifically track financials, lost 0.8%. With the day’s move, financials are now down 0.3% for the year. The banking sector had been one of Wall Street’s most profitable trades in the aftermath of President Donald Trump’s November election win. At one point, financials accounted for more than half the overall stock market’s advance. However, it has fallen more than 8% since early March, leading the overall market lower. Losses have come amid broad concerns about valuation, as well as the Federal Reserve indicating it might only raise interest rates by three times in 2017. Bank profits tend to be stronger in periods of higher rates, and investors had previously expected as many as four hikes this year. Despite expectations for higher rates going forward, benchmark bond yields have been trading at multi-month lows. The 10-year Treasury yielded 2.24% late Wednesday, near a five-month low. Caution over the financial sector has also been elevated going into the first-quarter earnings season, with investors looking for confirmation that its valuations are justified. A number of key banks will be reporting quarterly results in the coming days, including J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. , Citigroup Inc. and Wells Fargo & Co. on Thursday.

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Shares of Yuma Energy Inc. rose more than 5% late Wednesday after the energy company said it had entered an agreement with two privately held companies to develop more than 33,000 acres in West Texas’s Permian Basin and acquired a working interest in additional acreage. Yuma is the operator and it plans to spud the first well this year. Shares ended the regular session up 0.9%.

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Applied Optoelectronics Inc. said Wednesday that its quarterly earnings will exceed guidance as a booming market for optical-networking equipment continues to flourish, sending shares zooming higher in late trading. The Texas company said that revenue for the first quarter will come in around $96.2 million, higher than the forecast of $87 million to $91 million, and earnings will be in a range of 92 cents to 94 cents a share. Adjusted profit of $1 to $1.02 a share will exceed Applied’s forecast of 80 cents to 88 cents a share, the company announced. “Our results were driven by continued robust demand for our market-leading datacenter products and solid execution,” Chief Executive Thompson Lin said in a news release. Applied Optoelectronics plans to release its full earnings report on May 4. Shares jumped more than 18% to top $48 in after-hours action after being halted ahead of the announcement.

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Shares of Pier 1 Imports Inc. fell more than 4% late Wednesday after the retailer posted fourth-quarter earnings above expectations but falling quarterly sales, and said it expected flat to slightly negative sales growth in the first quarter. Pier 1 said it earned $26.6 million, or 33 cents a share, in the quarter, compared with $18.7 million in the year-ago period. Adjusted for one-time items, the retailer earned 34 cents a share. Sales fell 2.6% to $528.4 million. Analysts polled by FactSet had expected adjusted earnings of 33 cents a share on revenue of $529 million. Shares ended the regular trading session down 0.1%.

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The dollar tumbled Wednesday afternoon after President Donald Trump said during an interview with The Wall Street Journal that the greenback is “getting too strong.” The U.S. currency touched a fresh five-month low against the yen, trading as low as 109.13 yen after the interview was published. By comparison, it traded at 109.62 yen late Tuesday in New York. The euro traded at $1.0658, compared with $1.0604 late Tuesday. The pound strengthened to $1.2524, compared with $1.2491. In the interview, Trump said the dollar’s post-election rise was partially his fault “because people have confidence in me.” He added that “it’s very, very hard to compete when you have a strong dollar and other countries are devaluing their currency.” Trump also said he wouldn’t label China a currency manipulator because it hasn’t been manipulating its currency for months and because it could jeopardize his talks with Beijing about containing North Korea. This isn’t the first time Trump has discussed his views on the dollar with The Wall Street Journal: He made similar remarks in an interview published shortly before the inauguration. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin later told the WSJ that dollar strength was “a good thing.”

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United Continental Holdings, parent of United Airlines will reimburse passengers who were on flight 3411 Sunday, where a man was dragged off the plane, The Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday. The reimbursement will cover the cost of the ticket. The move comes after a viral video surfaced showing a man being dragged off the plane by law enforcement after he refused to give up his seat on the overbooked flight. Shares of United Continental were down 1% Wednesday afternoon.

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U.S. stocks fell to session lows on Wednesday after a news conference between Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov indicated a strained relationship between the two countries, which added to the market’s geopolitical uncertainty.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.3% to 20,587. The S&P 500 lost 0.4% to 2,344. The Nasdaq Composite Index shed 0.5% to 5,837. Tensions have been growing ever since the White House accused Russia of trying to cover up the suspected chemical weapon attack in Syria, though Trump has said the U.S. isn’t headed for a ground war in that country. The day’s losses were broad, with eight of the 11 primary S&P 500 sectors falling on the day. Materials and industrials were the biggest drags, with both down more than 1.2%. Exchange-traded funds tied to the Russian equity market also fell in midday trading. Both the iShares MSCI Russia Capped ETF and the VanEck Vectors Russia ETF lost 1.5% on the day. The iShares fund is down 8.2% thus far this year. In currencies, the ruble traded at 56.74 to the dollar, compared with 56.92 late Tuesday, a move of 0.3%.

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The U.S. ran a $176 billion deficit in March, the U.S. Treasury said Wednesday. The Treasury said outlays climbed during the month because the normal payment date of April 1 fell on a non-business day. For the fiscal year, the deficit has widened to $526.9 billion from 459.4 billion.

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