Category: Stock Market News

Shares of Ryder System Inc. tumbled 7.9% in afternoon trade Thursday, wiping out all of their post-election gains, after the truck rental company reported before the open fourth-quarter earnings that fell well short of expectations. The stock was the biggest decliner within the Dow Jones Transportation Average , which slumped 1.2% in afternoon trade, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average inched down 0.1%. The stock had soared 16% to a 16-month high in the first month after the election, but was now trading 1.8% below where it closed on Nov. 8. Ryder Chief Executive Robert Sanchez said the results reflected a used vehicle market what was “ever more challenging than expected,” and he expects these conditions to continue over the next 18 months. When asked on the post-earnings conference call about how the company would be affected by the new administration’s tax plan as written, the company said lower taxes and less regulation would benefit most of Ryder’s customers, but the border tax would get a little tricky since Ryder has operations in Mexico that support plants that feed product into the U.S.

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The Russian ruble and its stock market jumped on Thursday after media reports that the Treasury Department would ease sanctions on Russia’s intelligence agency. The dollar fell more than 2% against the ruble after the initial reports, but soon recovered some of that decline after President Donald Trump’s press secretary Sean Spicer denied that sanctions had been lifted. Still, the greenback was off 1.5% at 59.18 rubles, on track for its second-worst daily performance of the year. Russian stocks also soared on the news. The iShares MSCI Russian Capped ETF rose 1% to $34.22. Trump has repeatedly praised Russian President Vladimir Putin while also criticizing the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. These comments have been especially controversial in light of Russia’s annexation of Crimea, and the continued fighting between government forces and Russia-backed rebels in Eastern Ukraine.

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The Treasury Department is not easing sanctions on Russia, White House spokesman Sean Spicer said Thursday. The Treasury Department released a document showing some information technology products and services can now be sold to Russia’s intelligence agency. But at the daily White House briefing, Spicer said there was a misunderstanding. “We are not easing sanctions,” he said. “From what I understand, it is a regular course of action that Treasury does quite often when there are sanctions imposed,” he said. Treasury often goes back and makes carveouts for certain products and services, he said. The Russian ruble rallied on the announcement.

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Shares of Micron Technology Inc. climbed roughly 2% in afternoon trade Thursday following the announcement of CEO Mark Durcan’s planned retirement. The chip maker said it has formed a special committee to oversee the succession process and has initiated a search for his replacement. The company doesn’t have a timeframe regarding when the switch will happen, and said Durcan will continue to lead Micron in the meantime. Shares of Micron traded around $25.15 shortly after the announcement. They’ve increased 51% in the past there months and 137% in the past year, vastly outperforming the S&P 500 , which is up 8.5% in past three months and 20% in the past year.

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President Donald Trump said Thursday he’d like to “speed up” talks over renegotiating the North American Free Trade Agreement, which he said has been a “catastrophe” for U.S. workers and jobs. In brief remarks at the White House, Trump suggested doing a “new Nafta” with an extra “f” representing the word “fair.” Trump spoke ahead of meeting Harley Davidson executives.

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New York’s Independent Drivers Guild, an organization of 50,000 drivers, called on Uber Chief Executive Travis Kalanick to resign from President Donald Trump’s business advisory council Thursday. The group launched a petition calling for Kalanick to step down in response to President Donald Trump’s immigration ban. Kalanick and Uber have faced backlash after the company was seen as undermining a protest related to the ban, and as Kalanick was seen as working with Trump, after he said he would bring concerns on the ban to the President. The group notes that many of their drivers are immigrants and 90% said the ban would affect them, a friend or a family member. The group is circling a petition, which currently has 132 out of 200 signatures. In addition to asking Kalanick to step down from the council, it asks for in-app tipping, which it says would support immigrant drivers, not penalizing drivers protesting the ban and for Uber to make a large donation to support a group fighting the immigration ban.

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Natural-gas futures showed little reaction Thursday to data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration showing that supplies of natural gas fell by 87 billion cubic feet for the week ended Jan. 27. That was generally in line with the decline of 83 billion expected by analyst polled by S&P Global Platts. Total stocks now stand at 2.711 trillion cubic feet, down 266 billion cubic feet from a year ago, but 59 billion cubic feet above the five-year average, the government said. March natural gas fell 3.7 cents, or 1.2%, from Wednesday’s settlement to $3.131 per million British thermal units. It traded at $3.129 before the data.

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U.S. stocks opened lower on Thursday as uncertainty related to the new political environment continued to grow. President Donald Trump had raucous exchanges with Australia and Mexico, both of which are important allies and trading partners, and he also put Iran “on notice” over potential new sanctions after the country performed a ballistic missile test. The developments underlined the confusion that remains over the Trump administration’s policy priorities and aims. In economic news, jobless claims fell by 14,000 in the latest week. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 34 points, or 0.2%, to 19,858. The S&P 500 lost 4 points to 2,276, a drop of 0.2%. The Nasdaq Composite Index slid 16 points, or 0.3%, to 5,626. Among the most actively traded Nasdaq stocks was Facebook Inc , which fell 0.7% a day after it reported its quarterly results.

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Shares of Delta Air Lines Inc. slumped 1.8% in premarket trade Thursday, after the air carrier’s January performance data showed that supply growth outpaced demand. Total system traffic rose 0.4% to 15.34 billion revenue passenger miles, while capacity increased 0.6% to 19.26 billion available seat miles. That pushed load factor down to 81.2% from 81.3%., with domestic load factor declining 30 basis points to 80.8% and international load factor rising 10 basis points to 81.8%. Delta’s stock had rallied 8.4% over the past 12 months through Wednesday, while the NYSE Arca Airline Index soared 43% and the S&P 500 gained 20%.

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New York Times Co. shares rose nearly 2% after the news company reported slightly lower fourth-quarter earnings but had its best quarter for digital subscription adds since 2011, the year the pay model launched. The company added 276,000 new digital subscribers. Net income for the quarter was $37.1 million, or 23 cents per share, compared with $51.7 million, or 31 cents during the same quarter a year ago. Adjusted earnings per share were 30 cents, above FactSet’s consensus of 24 cents. Revenue hit $439.7 million in the quarter, down compared with the $444.7 million in revenue from a year ago, but just above FactSet’s $438.0 million consensus. Revenue from the company’s digital advertising increased 10.9% to $77.6 million, compared with $69.9 million last year, as print advertising revenue fell 20.4%. “With the rate of growth accelerating over the past year, we believe that there is further opportunity to significantly extend our subscription reach, both in the U.S. and around the world,” said New York Times Chief Executive Mark Thompson in a statement. Shares of the New York Times have increased 7% in the trailing 12-month period, while the S&P 500 Index has gained 20%.

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