Category: Stock Market News

Shares of Snap Interactive Inc. , which trades over the counter on the OTCQB exchange, soared 13% in active morning trade Thursday. Volume of 22,500 shares was nearly six times the full-day average. The company, which provides social networking and dating applications, has not released any news since Feb. 14, when it said Chief Executive Alex Harrington was named to the Global Dating Insights 2017 Power Book list of the most influential people in the online dating industry. The surge in the stock comes as investors wait for shares of Snapchat parent Snap Inc. to debut on the NYSE. Snap’s initial public offering priced at $17 late Wednesday, and is currently indicated to open between $23.50 to $24.50.

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Federal Reserve Gov. Jerome Powell said the case for March interest-rate hike “has come together,” saying the balance of risks has not only shifted from the downside but is arguably to the upside. Powell, in an interview with CNBC, said the momentum in the U.S. economy is solid. He also didn’t put much attention on the recent cuts to gross domestic product estimates by forecasters, saying GDP isn’t measured well in real time. Powell, who gets a vote at every Federal Open Market Committee meeting, joins several officials in talking about the possibility of a rate hike later this month.

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Data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration Thursday showed that domestic supplies of natural gas rose by 7 billion cubic feet for the week ended Feb. 24. Analysts expected inventories to fall by just 2 billion cubic feet, on average, for the week, following milder winter weather that dulled demand for the fuel, according to S&P Global Platts. Total stocks now stand at 2.363 trillion cubic feet, down 187 billion cubic feet from a year ago, but 295 billion cubic feet above the five-year average, the government said. April natural gas fell 3 cents, or 1.1%, from Wednesday’s settlement to $2.769 per million British thermal units. It traded at $2.786 before the data.

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Taubman Centers Inc. said Thursday it was raising its quarterly dividend by 5% to 62.5 cents a share from 59.5 cents a share. The mall real estate investment trust said the new dividend will be paid March 31 to shareholders of record on March 15. Based on current share prices, the new annual dividend rate implies a dividend yield of 3.62%, compared with the average dividend yield of the Real Estate Select Sector ETF’s components of 4.06%, and the aggregate S&P 500 dividend yield of 1.99%, according to FactSet. Taubman’s stock, which slipped 0.2% in morning trade, has lost 4.3% over the past three months, while the real estate ETF has gained 7% and the S&P 500 has climbed 9.1%.

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U.S. stock-market indexes opened lower Thursday, as investors took a breather after a surge on Wall Street that followed President Donald Trump’s speech to the joint session of Congress. The S&P 500 was down 4 points, or 0.2%, at 2,391. The Nasdaq Composite began the session off by 9 points, or 0.2%, at 5,895. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down by 14 points or 0.1%, to 21,100 at the open.

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Amazon.com Inc. said Thursday that it is installing solar panels on the roofs of fulfillment facilities around the world. The e-commerce giant plans to add the panels to more than 15 fulfillment and sortation centers in the U.S. this year, and will install them on 50 facilities globally by 2020. Depending on the project, time of year, and other factors, Amazon said the solar panels can generate up to 80% of a fulfillment center’s annual energy needs. Amazon has a network of wind and solar farms in Indiana, North Carolina, Ohio and Virginia. Its largest wind farm to date is in Texas. Amazon shares are up 0.2% in premarket trading, and up 47% for the past year. The S&P 500 index is up 20.6% for the last 12 months.

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Puma Biotechnology Inc. shares dropped 26.3% in pre-market trade Thursday after rival Roche said its drug for early breast cancer had positive results in a late-stage clinical trial. Roche said for post-surgical treatment, its Perjeta drug in combination with chemotherapy drug Herceptin and chemotherapy was able to reduce risk of recurrence in a statistically significant way relative to just Herceptin and chemotherapy. This result, assuming no surprises from the data in full, has essentially “eliminated” the commercial opportunity in post-surgical treatment for Puma’s neratinib drug, which is also being developed for breast cancer, according to RBC Capital Markets analyst Simos Simeonidis. “With Perjeta soon to be on the market, marketed by Roche’s dominant marketing machine that has owned the HER2+ space for a decade, we believe this active yet difficult to administer agent would have a very tough time being commercially relevant, even if it ended up being approved,” he said, lowering his price target by 55% to $17. Puma shares have declined 4.9% over the last three months, compared with a 9.3% rise in the S&P 500 .

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Barnes & Noble Inc. shares fell 3% in Thursday premarket trading after the retailer reported third-quarter profit that missed expectations. Net income was $70.3 million, or 96 cents per share, down from $80.3 million, or $1.04 last year. The FactSet consensus was $1.13. Sales totaled $1.30 billion, down from $1.41 billion last year but just ahead of the $1.29 billion FactSet consensus. Same-store sales fell 8.3%, largely due to lower traffic and a decline in coloring books, artist supplies and the best-selling Adele album that was released in 2015. Those three items accounted for nearly one-third of the sales decline. Barnes & Noble said “trends softened” in late January and into the fourth quarter, so the company now expects full-year 2017 same-store sales to decline about 7%. Barnes & Noble shares are down 3.2% for the last year while the S&P 500 index is up 20.6% for the same period.

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Shares of E-Trade Financial Corp. fell 2.2% in premarket trade Thursday, after the discount broker announced trade commission price cuts, in the wake of price cuts made by rivals earlier this week. E-Trade said trade commissions will fall to $6.95 from $9.99 for all customers. The broker said it will introduce a lower pricing tier for its most active customers, that make more than 30 trades per quarter, of $4.95. Options charges will be 50 cents per contract. On Tuesday, Charles Schwab Corp. cut commissions for standard online equity and exchange-traded fund trades to $4.95, matching cuts made by Fidelity less than 24 hours earlier. E-Trade’s stock has gained 3.6% over the past three months, while Schwab shares have climbed 11% and the S&P 500 has rallied 9.3%.

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Yum Brands Inc.’s Taco Bell chain said Thursday that it is testing three menu items between March 2 and April 8. The Doritos Quesalupa Crunch features the Doritos Locos Taco filled with beef, lettuce and cheddar cheese wrapped in a cheese-filled Quesalupa shell. It’s priced at less than $4 and will be testing in Cincinnati. The Chicken Enchilada Burrito includes seasoned rice, red sauce or nacho cheese sauce, sour cream, a three-cheese blend, and rolled chicken. It’s available in Flint, MI. And the Caesar Crunchwrap is made with chicken or steak, parmesan and corn crisps, romaine lettuce, Caesar dressing, a three-cheese blend and tomatoes then grilled. It’s being tested in Nashville, TN. Both the burrito and the Crunchwrap are priced at $2.99 on their own, or can be purchased as part of the $5 box that includes the Doritos Locos Taco, a Crunchy Taco and a medium beverage. Yum shares are up nearly 21% for the past year, in line with the S&P 500 index which is up 20.6% for the period.

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