Category: Stock Market News

U.S. equity-index benchmarks on Friday retreated after the closely watched jobs report showed that 98,000 jobs were created in March, far below figures the market had anticipated. Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 56 points, or 0.3% at 20,548, those for the S&P 500 index declined 7 points, or 0.3% at 2,347, while futures for the Nasdaq-100 index declined 12 points, or 0.2%, at 5,410. Economists polled by MarketWatch had forecast nonfarm payrolls to rise by 185,000 jobs in March, compared with February’s gain of 235,000 jobs. In one bright spot from the March employment report from the Labor Department, the unemployment rate fell to 4.5% from 4.7%–its lowest level in a decade. The moves for stocks also come as Wall Street reacts to the U.S.’s Thursday night airstrike in Syria. Investors also are looking to the conclusion of a closely watched summit between President Donald Trump and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping. On Thursday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed up 14.80 points at 20,662.95, while the S&P 500 index finished up 0.2% at 2,357, and the Nasdaq Composite Index rose 0.3% at 5,878.95.

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WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) – The U.S. created just 98,000 new jobs in March to mark the smallest gain in almost a year, as hiring cooled off after a strong start in 2017. Economists polled by MarketWatch had predicted a 185,000 increase in nonfarm jobs. Yet the unemployment rate fell to 4.5% from 4.7% – the lowest level in almost 10 years – as the number of people who found work outstripped the increase in the labor force, the government said Friday. Average wages rose 0.2% to $26.14 an hour. Hourly pay increased 2.7% from March 2016 to March 2017, down from 2.8% in the prior month. Hours worked totaled 34.3 a week, the same as in February. The government cut its estimate of new jobs created in February to 219,000 from 235,000. January’s gain was reduced to 216,000 from 238,000.

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Bank of Montreal said Friday that Chief Operating Officer Darryl White has been chosen to succeed Bill Downe as chief executive officer, effective Nov. 1, the start of the new fiscal year. Downe will retire on Oct. 31 after a decade as CEO. He will remain with the bank in an advisory capacity for a brief period, the bank said. Prior to his role as COO, White was group head of BMO Capital Markets and spent time in the U.S. working on strategy and expanding the bank’s footprint. Over the past 10 years, Bank of Montreal’s U.S. footprint has doubled. BMO shares are up 29.1% for the past year while the S&P 500 index was up 15.5% for that period.

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Defense and energy stocks dominated the list of premarket gainers on the S&P 500 Friday, after U.S. missile strikes against a Syrian airbase overnight. The news sent oil prices to $52.80 a barrel, up 2.1% in the Globex electronic session, while June Brent crude on London’s ICE Futures exchange rose 1.9% to $55.94. Prices often jump when tensions rise in the Middle East, where almost 40% of the world’s crude oil is produced. Raytheon Corp. , the maker of the Tomahawk missiles that were used in the attack, led the gainers with a 2.4% rise. Anadarko Petroleum Corp. jumped 1.8%, Lockheed Martin Corp. rose 1.8% and Chesapeake Energy Corp. was up 1.4%. S&P 500 futures were flat.

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Merck & Co. Inc. shares fell 1.5% in premarket trade Friday, after the company said it received a Complete Response Letter from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration regarding its application to include data on cardiovascular effects in the prescribing information of medicines using Sitagliptin, a treatment for type 2 diabetes. A CRL is a communication from the FDA that a drug application will not be approved in its current form. Merck said it is reviewing the letter and will discuss its next steps with the FDA. Merck shares have gained 7% in 2017, while the S&P 500 has gained 5%.

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From:: Stock Market News

Merck & Co. Inc. shares fell 1.5% in premarket trade Friday, after the company said it received a Complete Response Letter from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration regarding its application for approval for medicines using Sitagliptin, a treatment for type 2 diabetes. A CRL is a communication from the FDA that a drug application will not be approved in its current form. Merck said it is reviewing the letter and will discuss its next steps with the FDA. Merck shares have gained 7% in 2017, while the S&P 500 has gained 5%.

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KFC, the Yum Brands Inc. chicken chain, said Friday that it has committed to purchasing chicken raised without antibiotics important to humans by the end of 2018. The move is a response to changing customer preferences, said KFC U.S. President Kevin Hochman, and required collaboration among 2,000 farms. The brand has also made recent commitments to ensure all core products are free of artificial colors and flavors by 2018 and make its menu free of food dyes by this year, with the exception of beverages and third-party products. Yum shares are inactive in premarket trading, and are up 10.5% for the last year. The S&P 500 index is up 15.5% for the last 12 months.

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The U.S. Navy launched dozens of cruise missiles against targets in Syria on Thursday night. NBC News, which first reported the attack, said more than 50 Tomahawk missiles were launched from two U.S. warships in the Mediterranean, and at least one airfield was hit. The attack comes days after the Syrian regime used chemical weapons against an opposition-held town, killing dozens of civilians. The U.S. condemned the attack, and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said Thursday that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has no place in that country’s future. President Donald Trump was expected to address the nation from his Mar-a-Lago estate later Thursday night.

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Okta Inc. raised at least $187 million in an initial public offering that values the enterprise software startup at more than $1.35 billion. The company, which offers software that helps identify users across different corporate applications, announced Thursday afternoon that it had priced shares at $17 apiece, the top of a range that was increased earlier this week to $15 to $17 from an initial target of $13 to $15 a share. The valuation is a step up from the startup’s last private funding round, which sold shares at $12.02 and established a valuation of about $1.2 billion. The successful IPO continues a strong wave of stock debuts from enterprise-tech firms in the wake of the blockbuster debut for Snapchat parent company Snap Inc. Underwriters, led by Goldman Sachs, J.P. Morgan and Allen & Co., have access to another 1.65 million shares that could sell to boost the company’s windfall and valuation. Shares are expected to begin trading Friday on the Nasdaq Global Select Market under the ticker symbol OKTA.

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C&J Energy Services Inc. shares fell in the extended session Thursday after the oilfield services company announced a secondary offering of its stock. C&J shares fell 13% to $32.55 after hours. The company said it is offering 6 million shares of stock and an unnamed stockholder is selling 1 million shares. Underwriters will get about 1 million shares to cover overallotments. The company currently has 56.2 million shares outstanding.

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