Category: Stock Market News

U.S. stock-market indexes opened nearly unchanged on Thursday, weighed down by energy companies, which were hit by falling oil prices. The April contract slid 1%, to $49.79 a barrel on top of a 5.4% drop on Wednesday. Closing lower would mark the fourth-straight session of losses. Thursday also marks the eighth anniversary of the cyclical bull market for U.S. stocks, during which the S&P 500 rose 250%. On Thursday, the S&P 500 opened flat at 2,363. Oil companies, such as Transocean Lts and Haliburton Company dropped more than 2% at the open, while the energy sector was down 0.7%. The Nasdaq Composite began the session down 2 points at 5,833. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up up by 8 points to 20,862 at the open.

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Shares of Sears Holdings Corp. were up nearly 7% in premarket trade on Thursday after the company reported a smaller fourth-quarter loss and revenue that was better than Wall Street expected. Sears reported a net loss of $607 million, or $5.67 per share for the quarter, compared with a loss of $580 million, or $5.44 per share during the year-prior period. The company’s adjusted loss per share came in at $1.28, while analysts surveyed by FactSet had forecast the company would post a loss of $2.85 per share. Revenue for the quarter hit $6.1 billion, down from $7.3 billion in the year-earlier period, but above FactSet’s $5.9 billion consensus. Shares of Sears have declined more than 56% during the trailing 12-month period, underperforming the S&P 500 index , which is up nearly 19%.

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Stanley Black & Decker shares surged more than 5% in premarket trade Thursday, after the company closed its deal to buy the Craftsman brand from Sears Holding Corp. for about $900 million in cash. The deal, first announced on Jan. 5, gives the company the right to develop and sell Craftsman products outside of Sears stores. Stanley Black & Decker said it expects the deal to immediately boost earnings, adding about 8 cents to share to 2017 earnings per share, excluding about $20 million of costs. The company is now expecting 2017 adjusted EPS of $6.74 to $6.94, compared with a FactSet consensus of $6.95. Shares have gained about 30% in the last 12 months, while the S&P 500 has gained 19%.

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American International Group Inc. said Thursday its chief executive, Peter Hancock, has informed the board of his intention to resign his position. The insurer said Hancock has agreed to remain at the company until a successor has been found. The CEO was named to the role in September 2014, after serving as CEO of the AIG Property Casualty. The executive joined the company in 2010 as executive vice president of financial, risk and investments. “Without wholehearted shareholder support for my continued leadership, a protracted period of uncertainty could undermine the progress we have made and damage the interests of our policyholders, employees, regulators, debtholders, and shareholders,” he said in a statement. AIG shares rose 2% in premarket trade and are up 23% in the last 12 months, while the S&P 500 has gained 19% and the Dow Jones Industrial Average has gained 23%.

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The European Central Bank offered no surprises Thursday as it left interest rates unchanged. The Governing Council left the main refinancing rate at 0%, while the rate on deposits parked overnight at the bank remains at minus 0.4%. The rate on the bank’s marginal lending facility remains at 0.25%. In a statement, the bank repeated that it expects rates to remain “at present or lower levels for an extended period of time, and well past the horizon” of its bond-buying program, which is scheduled to run through at least December. The ECB also repeated that it stands ready to extend the size or the duration of the bond-buying program if the outlook deteriorates. ECB President Mario Draghi will hold a news conference at 2:30 p.m. Frankfurt time, or 8:30 a.m. Eastern.

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Shares of energy companies fell in premarket trade Thursday, after crude futures dropped below $50 a barrel for the first time in 2017. The April contract slid $1.41, or 2.8%, to $48.88 a barrel, after trading as high as $50.84 earlier in the day. May Brent crude on London’s ICE Futures exchange also erased gains, sliding $1.42, or 2.7%, to $51.69 a barrel. Traders in London said the drop came as traders stopped betting oil prices will go higher and sold out of their long positions. NRG Energy Inc. led the decliners, shedding 3.9% premarket. Chesapeake Energy Corp. slid 1.8% and Devon Energy Corp. was down 2%. Marathon Oil fell 1.8% and Cimarex Energy Co. was down 1.6%. Among oil majors, Exxon Mobil Corp. fell 0.6%, Chevron Corp. was down 0.7% and ConocoPhillips was down 0.9%. The U.S. Oil Fund exchange-traded fund was down 2.3%.

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Shares of Staples Inc. fell 1.8% in premarket trade on Thursday after the office supply retailer reported fourth-quarter earnings that were below Wall Street expectations. Staples reported a net loss of $952 million for the quarter, or 94 cents per share, after reporting net income of $86 million, or 20 cents per share during the same period a year ago. Adjusted per-share earnings came in at 25 cents, just below FactSet’s consensus for 26 cents. Sales during the fourth quarter hit $4.6 billion, compared with last year’s $4.7 billion, while analysts tracked by FactSet had forecast $5.0 billion in sales. Staples sees first-quarter earnings per share landing in the range of 15 cents to 18 cents. Analysts on FactSet are looking for earnings to come in at 17 cents per share for the first quarter. Shares of Staples have declined 6.6% during the trailing 12-month period, underperforming the S&P 500 index , which is up 18.8% in the same period.

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Signet Jewelers Ltd. said Thursday it had net income of $387.8 million, or $3.92 a share, in its fiscal fourth quarter to Jan. 28, up from $271.9 million, or $3.42 a share, in the year-earlier period. Adjusted per-share earnings came to $4.03, ahead of the FactSet consensus of $4.00. But sales fell to $2.27 billion from $2.39 billion, missing the FactSet consensus of $2.30 billion. Same-store sales fell 4.5%, more than the 4.2% FactSet consensus. “We are adapting to a challenging retail environment and weak mall traffic,” Chief Executive Mark Light said in a statement. The company is now expecting fiscal 2018 same-store sales to be down in the low-to-mid single digits, and for EPS to range from $7.00 to $7.40. The FactSet consensus is for same-store sales to rise 1.9% and for EPS of $8.26. Shares are down 31% in the year to date, while the S&P 500 has gained 5.6%.

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Oil prices suddenly turned sharply lower in Thursday trade, pushing West Texas Intermediate crude below the psychologically important $50-a-barrel level for the first time since December. The April contract dropped 79 cents, or 1.6%, to $49.51 a barrel, after trading as high as $50.84 earlier in the day. Brent for May slid 79 cents, or 1.5%, to $52.30 a barrel. Ole Hansen, head of commodity strategy at Saxo Bank, said the sudden sharp move came as traders stopped betting oil prices will higher. “In essence, traders holding longs are selling into a market where the bid is weak,” he said. On Wednesday, both WTI and Brent closed at 2017 lows after U.S. supply data showed inventories have jumped to mark a fresh record. However, earlier on Thursday, oil prices had recovered slightly.

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Fall 2018 would be a “common sense” time for a second independence referendum, Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said in a BBC interview that is being broadcast Thursday. Sturgeon also insisted, however, that no final decision had yet been made on holding such a vote, a BBC report said. A referendum at that time would come a few months before the U.K. is due to exit the European Union, adding a big wrinkle to the Brexit process.

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