Category: Stock Market News

ConocoPhillips shares rallied in the extended session Wednesday after the oil company agreed to sell its interest in an oil sands joint venture to Cenovus Energy Inc. ConocoPhillips shares rallied 5.7% to $48.58, while Cenovus shares fell 8.3% to $12 after hours. Under the agreement, Cenovus will acquire ConocoPhillips’s 50% stake in the FCCL Partnership, which is operated by Cenovus, for $17.7 billion, or $14.1 billion cash and 208 million Cenovus shares. The companies expect the deal to close in the second quarter.

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ConocoPhillips shares rallied in the extended session Wednesday after the oil company agreed to sell its interest in an oil sands joint venture to Cenovus Energy Inc. ConocoPhillips shares rallied 5.7% to $48.58, while Cenovus shares fell 8.3% to $12 after hours. Under the agreement, Cenovus will acquire ConocoPhillips’s 50% stake in the FCCL Partnership, which is operated by Cenovus, for $17.7 billion, or $14.1 billion cash and 208 million Cenovus shares. The companies expect the deal to close in the second quarter.

Market Pulse Stories are Rapid-fire, short news bursts on stocks and markets as they move. Visit MarketWatch.com for more information on this news.

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Oil prices rose Wednesday to finish at their highest level in roughly three weeks. Data from the Energy Information Administration revealed a weekly rise in U.S. crude supplies that was below some market expectations, along with bigger-than-expected drops in gasoline and distillate stockpiles. Disruptions to crude production in Libya added further support to oil prices. May West Texas Intermediate crude rose $1.14, or 2.4%, to settle at $49.51 a barrel.

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Citizens Financial Group Inc. shares took a sharp turn down Wednesday, after a Wall Street Journal report that employees fabricated meetings with customers to meet goals set by the bank. Eleven current and former branch employees told the paper that bankers lied about the number of meetings they were having with customers as part of the company’s “Citizens Checkup” program. In some instances, bankers falsified forms to make them look more like records of real meetings. The bank responded by saying it had no data to support those claims and “strict controls and standards” to detect such behavior. Shares of Providence, R.I.-based Citizens were last down 3% and have fallen 4.8% in the year so far, while the S&P 500 has gained more than 5%.

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Mylan NV shares sank 2.0% in afternoon trade Wednesday after the company said the Food and Drug Administration failed to approve its generic version of the asthma medication Advair Diskus, which is manufactured by GlaxoSmithKline . Advair Diskus, which consists of an inhaler and a combination medication, is used to treat asthma and help individuals with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Mylan said it was reviewing the FDA’s response and will provide updates “as soon as practicable.” Odds of approval were low according to FDA statistics, since the decision was released in time for the FDA’s late March goal date, said Raymond James analyst Elliot Wilbur. Two issues could have hindered Mylan’s new drug application, EvercoreISI analyst Umer Raffat said Tuesday: a citizen’s petition filed by Novartis AG’s Sandoz criticizing Mylan’s low-dose product and how dated Mylan’s phase 3 trial was. “Had FDA denied the Sandoz citizen’s petition outright, it may have implied that the FDA does not deem Sandoz’s point to be important, and the odds of generic approval today would have been higher,” Raffat said. “But, that didn’t happen.” Mylan shares have risen 8.5% over the last three months, compared with a 5.0% rise in the S&P 500 .

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Shares of Nutanix Inc. sank 8% Wednesday after the company’s 180-day-lockup period on selling shares expired. Nutanix hit the public market in September of 2016 and saw a huge share pop,closing 130% above its issue price of $16 a share. Shares have not done as well since then, with a drop of 39% in the past month and a drop of 30% in the past three months, compared to the S&P 500’s loss of less than 1% and gain of 5%, respectively.

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President Donald Trump still wants to repeal and replace Obamacare but he “wants to have a good deal,” White House press secretary Sean Spicer said Wednesday. The White House and House Republicans have reportedly begun new talks on Obamacare repeal but neither are putting a timeline on a new bill. “We’re not going to create a deal for the sake of creating a deal,” Spicer said Wednesday. House Republicans’ American Health Care Act was pulled last week over lack of support.

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Shares of Amazon.com Inc. surged 1.6% in midday trade Wednesday, toward its first record close this month, as investors continued to bet on the ecommerce giant’s dominance over its retail peers. Since Feb. 3, when the stock tumbled 3.5% after disappointing fourth-quarter results, the stock has run up 7.3%, while the SPDR S&P Retail ETF has shed 1.8% and the S&P 500 has edged up 2.7%. Analyst Rob Sanderson at MKM Partners said he believes Amazon’s stock has been outperforming because its “retail dominance” is driving investor interest. “We think this reflects a challenging environment for traditional retailers and money flow from consumer retail as conclusions of fundamental analysts increasingly point them toward Amazon,” Sanderson wrote in a recent note to clients. “We continue to view Amazon as the best long-term growth story available to investors today.” Amazon’s stock rally Wednesday comes in the wake of data showing consumer confidence soaring in March to the highest reading in 16 years. Basically, investors are recognizing that consumers are willing to spend, just not at traditional retailers.

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Tesla Inc. is likely to report next week the delivery of 23,000 vehicles in the first quarter, analysts at Cowen said in a note Wednesday. That estimate is on the low end of expectations the Silicon Valley electric-car maker would deliver 23,000 to 24,500 vehicles in the quarter, the analysts said. Tesla is expected to report its first-quarter deliveries early next month. The company missed delivery estimates in the fourth quarter. The Cowen analysts also said they expect Tesla to tap markets for additional capital this year “to build a cushion for 2018 capex needs that will likely be quite steep.” They kept their sell rating on the stock and a price target of $155. “As Tesla’s Model 3 ramp proceeds, we continue to have more questions than answers about the company and the vagueness of details coupled with lack of disclosure from management is sure to raise eyebrows with investors,” they said. “We continue to believe Tesla shares are an overvalued show-me story.”

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A New York law that barred retailers from charging customers more when they use credit cards instead of cash hit a legal roadblock Wednesday when the Supreme Court sent the law back to a lower court for more review. The justices agreed with merchants in New York state that the law actually curtailed their free speech by mandating what they say to their customers about the credit card fees. The lower court had upheld the New York law as a pricing regulation only and not as a matter of free speech.

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