Category: Stock Market News

Macy’s Inc. said it fired Chief Growth Officer Peter R. Sachse, a 34-year employee. Sachse will be “involuntarily separating” from Macy’s effective Jan. 30, the retailer said in a filing. Sachse’s separation was announced Jan. 9, the company said. Sachse will receive $2.7 million in a lump sum and continued vesting of equity awards through March, the retailer said. The dismissal comes a little over a week afterMacy’s and other department stores reported weak holiday sales and as the company announced store closures. Shares of Macy’s fell 0.1% late Friday after ending the regular trading day down 0.3%.

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The Nasdaq closed at a fresh record Friday following a snap of a five-day streak of new highs while the broader market finished little changed heading into the holiday weekend. The Dow Jones Industrial Average declined 5.27 points to finish at 19,885.73, with shares of Wal-Mart Stores Inc. dragging on the average, for a weekly decline of 0.4%. The S&P 500 index closed up 4.20 points, or 0.2%, at 2,274.64, with the financials and consumer-discretionary sectors the strongest performers, for a weekly of decline of 0.1%. The Nasdaq Composite index finished up 26.63 points, or 0.5%, at 5,574.12, for its sixth record in seven sessions and a weekly gain of 1%.

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The House of Representatives passed a budget bill Friday that is a procedural step toward repealing the Affordable Care Act. By a vote of 227 to 198, the House approved a budget resolution that instructs committees to write plans for repealing much of the law commonly known as Obamacare. The Senate approved the measure on Thursday.

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Oil futures fell Friday to tally loss of about 3% for the week–the largest such loss since early November, according to FactSet data. Doubts surrounding oil-producer compliance with a production cut agreement lingered despite some signs of cutbacks. February West Texas Intermediate crude fell 64 cents, or 1.2%, to settle at $52.37 a barrel.

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Gold futures settled with a loss on Friday, but still scored a gain of about 1.9% for the week. “Gold appears to be trading in lock step with U.S. dollar trends over the past few weeks, with this week’s strength reflecting softness in the dollar,” said Rob Haworth, senior investment strategist at U.S. Bank Wealth Management. “Our view on President-elect [Donald] Trump’s policies is that we should see a stronger U.S. dollar, which should continue to pressure gold prices this year.” February gold fell $3.60, or 0.3%, for the session to settle at $1,196.20 an ounce.

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Data from Baker Hughes Friday revealed that the number of active U.S. rigs drilling for oil fell by 7 to 522 rigs this week. The decline follows ten consecutive weeks of increases. The total active U.S. rig count, which includes oil and natural-gas rigs, also fell 6 to 659, according to Baker Hughes. February West Texas Intermediate crude was trading down 46 cents, or 0.9%, for the session at $52.55 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, unchanged from the levels it traded at before the data.

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The Treasury Department said Friday it is asking primary dealers about market conditions for mortgage-backed securities and TIPS, or inflation-protected securities. In its latest primary dealer agenda, the Treasury said it was asking dealers about the near and medium term outlook for the MBS market in light of recent changes in long-term Treasury and mortgage rates. It also asked dealers about current supply and demand in the TIPS market in light of the recent rise in real rates.

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J.P. Morgan & Co. CEO Jamie Dimon said he isn’t concerned that President-elect Donald Trump’s trade policies will hurt the economy by pushing for tariffs and adopting a protectionist stance. During a call with reporters on Friday following the bank’s quarterly results, Dimon said despite Trump’s rhetoric and frequent use of Twitter, which indicate the real-estate mogul would retool trade agreements with Mexico and hold a hard line with countries like China, he expects the coming president’s administration to “do the right thing.” “Putting aside the one-liners and election rhetoric, I am comforted by the fact that he’s putting real players on the playing field,” Dimon said. Trump, for example, has repeatedly accused China of manipulating its currency and has threatened to place tariffs on its goods. Critics fear that such a tacked would backfire as China would likely retaliate with tariffs of its own. The U.S. is the biggest market for China, accepting about a fifth of its exports. Shares of J.P. Morgan were up nearly 2% on Friday, following its better-than-expected results, which were giving a lift to financials and the Dow Jones Industrial Average . “Give him some time,” Dimon said of Trump. The J.P. Morgan boss is a part of Trump’s economic brain trust, the Strategic and Policy Forum, which consists of 16 business leaders, headed by Stephen Schwarzman, the billionaire co-founder of private-equity firm Blackstone Group .

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The Securities and Exchange Commission said on Friday that Citadel Securities LLC will pay $22.6 million to settle charges that its team that processes retail customer orders from other brokerage firms misled those customers about the way it priced trades. According to the SEC, Citadel Execution Services used two algorithms that did not take the other side of the retail orders, called internalization, at the best price observed nor did it seek the best price in the marketplace. That’s despite telling broker-dealer clients that it either took the other side of the trade and provided the best price that it observed on various market data feeds or sought to obtain that price in the marketplace. Citadel Securities executes approximately 35% of the average daily volume of retail equity shares traded in the U.S. markets, according to the SEC’s order. Citadel Securities has since discontinued use of the two algorithms which violated the law from late 2007 through January 2010. Citadel did not admit or deny the findings, but agreed to be censured and pay a penalty of $16 million, return $5.2 million in gains and pay interest of more than $1.4 million.

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The Securities and Exchange Commission said on Friday that Citadel Securities LLC will pay $22.6 million to settle charges that its team that processes retail customer orders from other brokerage firms misled those customers about the way it priced trades. According to the SEC, Citadel Execution Services used two algorithms that did not take the other side of the retail orders, called internalization, at the best price observed nor did it seek the best price in the marketplace. That’s despite telling broker-dealer clients that it either took the other side of the trade and provided the best price that it observed on various market data feeds or sought to obtain that price in the marketplace. Citadel Securities executes approximately 35% of the average daily volume of retail equity shares traded in the U.S. markets, according to the SEC’s order. Citadel Securities has since discontinued use of the two algorithms which violated the law from late 2007 through January 2010. Citadel did not admit or deny the findings, but agreed to be censured and pay a penalty of $16 million, return $5.2 million in gains and pay interest of more than $1.4 million.

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