Category: Stock Market News

Whole Foods Market Inc. was initiated on Thursday at sell at UBS with a $25 stock price target, with analysts saying the company faces intensifying competition after being a pioneer in the organic food space. “While Whole Foods has done so much to inspire, create, and revolutionize the market for natural and organic, we now see it being the victim of its own success,” analysts wrote in a note. “Whole Foods’ nine-point plan is a good strategy to confront the challenges it is facing. But, we don’t think it will fully address the fact that the distribution of natural/organic continues to widen.” Analysts suggest that the company needs to move from a “growth phase to an efficiency phase.” Cost savings of $300 million “is a start”, but growth must be “process-oriented.” Whole Foods shares are down 0.8% in Thursday trading, and down 7.6% for the past year. The S&P 500 index is up 15.8% for the last 12 months.

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Shares of Chesapeake Energy Corp. climbed 1.4% in morning trade Thursday, after Stifel Nicolaus published a bullish research note that implied the stock could possibly double in a year. Analyst Karl Chalabala started coverage of Chesapeake with a buy rating, which for Stifel means the stock is expected to provide investors with a total return of greater than 10% over the next 12 months. But Chalabala said the stock price target was $10.00, which is exactly double Wednesday’s closing price of $5.00. “Following a wave of asset divestitures, debt repayments and midstream obligation renegotiations, we believe Chesapeake is well positioned to succeed in the North American shale low-price commodity environment,” Chalabala wrote in a note to clients. The stock has plunged 28% year to date, while the SPDR Energy Select Sector ETF has lost 8.2% and the S&P 500 has gained 5.3%.

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Spending for the Easter holiday is expected to reach $18.4 billion, up 6% from $17.3 billion last year, according to the National Retail Federation, a record high for the 14-year-old annual survey. Individual spending will be an average $152, up from last year’s record $146. Easter 2017 takes place three weeks later than last year. Coupled with the warm weather, shoppers will be “in the frame of mind to splurge on spring apparel along with Easter decorations,” said NRF Chief Executive Matthew Shay in a statement. Customers will spend $5.8 billion on food, $3.3 billion on clothing, $1.1 billion on decorations, and $2.26 billion on candy, the group said. The SPDR S&P Retail ETF is down 7.7% for the past year while the S&P 500 index is up 15.6% for the same period.

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An American tourist is the third confirmed death in Wednesday’s terrorist attack on near the Houses of Parliament in London. Kurt Cochran, 54, from West Bountiful, Utah, was on Westminster Bridge when a driver plowed his car into pedestrians, multiple news reports said Thursday. Cochran’s wife, Melissa, was being treated for her injuries in the hospital. The couple were in Europe celebrating their 25th wedding anniversary and were scheduled to return on Thursday, according to a statement from Kurt Cochran’s family. A 43-year-old Spanish teacher and a 48-year-old Metropolitan Police officer were the other two people killed during Wednesday’s attack. The attacker was shot dead by police Wednesday. Islamic State’s news agency, Amaq, said one of its followers carried out the attack.

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Data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration Thursday showed that domestic supplies of natural gas fell by 150 billion cubic feet for the week ended March 17. That was slightly less than the decline of 153 billion cubic feet expected by analysts polled by S&P Global Platts. Total stocks now stand at 2.092 trillion cubic feet, down 399 billion cubic feet from a year ago, but 266 billion cubic feet above the five-year average, the government said. April natural gas was up less than a cent, or 0.1%, from Wednesday’s settlement at $3.017 per million British thermal units. It was trading at $3.045 before the data.

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Volkswagen AG’s return to European debt markets has been met with a warm reception from investors, who’re rushing to participate in Thursday’s expected 7.5 billion euro ($8.1 billion) bond offering, according to a report from the Financial Times. The bond had attracted 22 billion euros ($23.8 billion) in bids by mid-morning, London Time, the FT reported, with debt being sold in four tranches with maturities from two to 10 years. The German automaker was once one of the largest bond issuers in Europe, but it hasn’t sold a benchmark bond denominated in a G-10 currency since August 2015. In January, the company agreed to pay $4.3 billion in criminal and civil fines and pleaded guilty to three criminal felony counts. These fines brought the automakers’ total scandal-related costs in the U.S. to $20 billion. The company’s U.S.-traded shares were off 1.3% at $29.92 in Thursday trade.

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House Speaker Paul Ryan pushed back his 11:30 a.m. Eastern news conference to 3:30 p.m., in a possible sign that Republicans are still searching for votes on their health-care bill. House leaders have been planning to vote on the American Health Care Act Thursday but reports have said they are short of votes. President Donald Trump is meeting with conservative members Thursday morning to drum up support.

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Shares of Ford Motor Co. shed 1.3% in morning trade Thursday, after the automaker disclosed a first-quarter earnings outlook that was well below expectations. In a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Ford said Chief Financial Officer Bob Shanks will host a “Let’s Chat” forum at 10 a.m. ET, where he will say the company established a first-quarter net and adjusted earnings-per-share guidance range of 30 cents to 35 cents, down from adjusted EPS of 68 cents a year ago, and below the FactSet consensus of 47 cents. Ford said the decline from last year is because of higher costs, including for commodities and investments in emerging opportunities; lower volume, primarily fleet volume; and unfavorable currency moves. The stock has not lost 4.2% year to date, while rival General Motors Co. shares have slipped 1.7% and the S&P 500 has gained 4.8%.

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The U.S. stock market opened lower on Thursday, with investors cautious in a day that may deliver a House vote on the health-care bill. A failure to pass the bill may undercut investor confidence in the Trump administration’s ability to implement other policy changes. The S&P 500 opened 2 points, or 0.1%, lower at 2,345. Shares of Ford Motors dropped sharply after downbeat earnings outlook for the first quarter. The Nasdaq Composite opened off 11 points, or 0.2%, at 5,810. The Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 24 points, or 0.1%, to 20,635.

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WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) — New research makes a compelling case that there is a need to think “longer term” about how to prepare people for success in the labor marker, said Fed Chairwoman Janet Yellen Thursday. “This research underscores the value of starting young to develop basic work habits and skills,” Yellen said in welcoming remarks at a Fed research conference on community development. Yellen said there is also evidence that growing up poor makes it harder to succeed as an adult. New work is needed on what kinds of interventions could help poor children and are these programs scalable. The Fed chief did not address the economic outlook or interest-rate policy in her remarks.

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