Category: Stock Market News

Shares of teen retailer Express Inc. slid to a record low Wednesday, after the company provided a downbeat outlook for the fiscal first quarter along with declines in fourth-quarter profit and sales. MKM Partners noted a 640 basis point decline in operating margins and said the outlook for the first quarter was particularly disappointing. “While we appreciate the environment was exceptionally tough in early February, guidance suggests that 1Q will not be an inflection quarter despite the reduced SKU (shelf keeping unit) count and improvement to merchandise vs. last year,” analyst Roxanne Meyer wrote in a note. “This creates a bit lower visibility for the pace of improvement in 2Q as well, and could serve as an overhang for the stock near-term, in our view.” MKM rates the stock neutral with a price target of $11. The stock fell 13% to $9.33 in early trade, and is down 51% in the last 12 months, while the S&P 500 has gained about 20%.

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Shares of MGP Ingredients Inc. surged 8% Wednesday, after the supplier of distilled spirits and specialty wheat proteins and starches reported stronger-than-expected fourth-quarter earnings. The Atchison, Kansas-based company said net income rose 28% to $8.3 million, or 48 cents a share, topping the FactSet consensus by 24%. Revenue edged down 0.4% to $81.1 million, but was slightly ahead of the consensus of $81 million. The company said higher sales of premium beverage alcohol was offset by a decline in lower margin industrial alcohol. “While yearlong softness in the industrial alcohol market offset premium beverage revenue gains, MGP’s bourbon and rye whiskeys reported strong revenue growth throughout the year, outperforming the continued steady growth of the bourbon category and contributing to gains in MGP’s gross profit and margins,” Chief Executive Gus Griffin said in a statement. The company said it’s sticking with its outlook for operating income to grow 10% to 15% annually through 2018, although sales are expected to grow modestly this year as the company continues to shift away from industrial alcohol. Shares have gained 92% in the last 12 months, while the S&P 500 has gained about 20%.

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David Nason, a former Treasury Department official and now a senior executive at General Electric , has indicated he is not interested in joining the Federal Reserve board of governors, according to several press reports. Nason had been reported to be the Trump administration’s top choice to become the first ever vice chairman for bank supervision at the central bank and oversee the nation’s biggest banks. Congress carved out that position as part of the Dodd-Frank law but the Obama administration never filled it. Other candidates touted by the media for the post are John Allison, a former CEO at regional bank BB&T and Tom Hoenig, vice chairman at the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., but some reports say the White House has broadened its search.

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Although the stock market is mostly higher, the number of NYSE-listed stocks that have hit new 52-week lows is higher than the number hitting 52-week highs by a 49-to-33 score. That would market the third-straight session that new lows topped new highs, which would be the longest such streak since the 8-session stretch ending Nov. 4, 2016. Back then, the S&P 500 had declined in each of those eight sessions to close at a 4 1/2-month low on Nov. 4, or 4.8% below the most recent record close of 2,190.15 on Aug. 15. In the current streak, the S&P 500 fell on Monday and Tuesday, but was up 0.1% in morning trade Wednesday, and was 1% below the latest record close of 2,395.96 reached just a week ago. Meanwhile, the Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 8 points in morning trade, but the Nasdaq Composite rose 0.4%.

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The U.S. Energy Information Administration on Wednesday reported an 8.2 million-barrel climb in domestic crude supplies for last week, lifting total commercial inventories to a new record weekly level of 528.4 million. That marked a ninth straight weekly increase. The American Petroleum Institute late Tuesday reported a rise of 11.6 million barrels, according to sources, while analysts polled by S&P Global Platts forecast an increase of 1.6 million barrels. Gasoline supplies, however, dropped 6.6 million barrels, while distillate stockpiles were down 2.7 million barrels last week, according to the EIA. April crude fell 45 cents, or 0.9%, at $52.69 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. It was trading at $52.45 before the supply data.

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U.S. stocks opened flat on Wednesday after the latest data on the labor market came in far stronger than expected, adding to expectations that the Federal Reserve would raise interest rates at its meeting next week. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 19 points to 20,943, a rise of less than 0.1%. The S&P 500 rose less than a point to 2,369. The Nasdaq Composite Index rose less than 0.1% to 5,836, a move of 3 points on the day. Equities have been in a strong uptrend of late, with major indexes hitting a series of records and the S&P 500 coming off a six-week streak of gains. While the ADP jobs data pointed to an economy that was improving, higher rates could represent a headwind for further gains. Much of the market’s advance over the past several years has been attributed to the low-rate environment, although some sectors – notably banks – are expected to thrive in an environment with higher rates. Financials were the strongest performers of the day on Wednesday, up 0.8%, with Goldman Sachs among the most active, rising 0.9%.

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Bank stocks rallied in premarket trade Wednesday, boosted by a rise in Treasury yields following a blowout private-sector jobs report. The SPDR Financial Select Sector ETF climbed 0.9%. Among the ETF’s more heavily-weighted banking components, shares of Bank of America Corp. hiked up 1.7%, of Citigroup Inc. rose 1.3%, of J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. gained 1%, of Goldman Sachs Group Inc. tacked on 1.2% and of Wells Fargo & Co. advanced 1%. The U.S. added 298,000 private-sector jobs in February, the most since April 2014, according to ADP. That sent the yield on 10-year Treasurys 5.1 basis points to a 2 1/2-month high of 2.563%. Higher long-term interest rates can boost bank profits, as they increase the spread between what banks earn by funding longer-term assets, such as loans, with shorter-term liabilities. The financial ETF has gained 4.3% over the past three months through Tuesday, while the S&P 500 has climbed 5.4%.

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Sequential Brands Group Inc. said Wednesday that it’s bringing three brands to Brazil this year. Sequential, which owns, manages and promotes consumer brands like Ellen Tracy, Martha Stewart and Jessica Simpson, has entered into a licensing agreement with SPR Industria de Confeccao Ltda. to expand the basketball brand AND1, lifestyle brand Avia, and skate brand DVS. The new collections will be online at Netshoes in late 2017, and launch in sporting goods stores starting in early 2018. Sequential shares are inactive in premarket trading, and down 49% for the last year. The S&P 500 index is up 19.7% for the past 12 months.

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Shares of Children’s Place Inc. surged 7.7% in active premarket trade Wednesday, after the children’s apparel retailer doubled its dividend, boosted its stock buyback program and beat fiscal fourth-quarter profit expectations. The company said the new quarterly dividend of 40 cents a share, up from 20 cents a share, is payable May 1 to shareholders of record on April 10. The company also approved a new $250 million share repurchase program. “This dividend increase and the new share repurchase authorization reflect our confidence in our ability to execute on our strategic initiatives and our continuing commitment to return excess capital to shareholders,” said Chief Executive Jane Elfers. Separately, the company reported earnings for the quarter to Jan. 28 that rose to $34.2 million, or $1.86 a share, from $17.5 million, or 87 cents a share, in the same period a year ago. Excluding non-recurring items, adjusted earnings per share came to $1.88, well above the FactSet consensus of $1.59. Revenue increased to $520.8 million from $498.5 million, just shy of the FactSet consensus of $522.1 million, while same-store sales growth of 6.9% beat expectations of a 6.8% increase.

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American International Group Inc. said Wednesday it is planning to locate an insurance company in Luxembourg to ensure it maintains access to the European Economic Area and Switzerland after the UK leaves the EU. From 2019, the company will have two subsidiary businesses in Europe, one in the UK to write business there and one in Luxembourg to serve the EEA and Switzerland. “This is a decisive move that ensures AIG is positioned for whatever form the UK’s exit from the EU ultimately takes,” Anthony Baldwin, chief executive AIG Europe, said in a statement. Shares have gained 22% in the last 12 months, outperforming the S&P 500’s 20% gain.

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