Category: Stock Market News

Shares of Alexion Pharmaceuticals Inc. advanced in the extended session Wednesday after the biotech company filed a delayed quarterly report and affirmed its outlook. Alexion shares rose 2.3% to $130.01 after hours following a 3.7% advance in the regular session. On Wednesday, Alexion filed its third-quarter report with the Securities and Exchange Commission and said financial results do not require restatement. The company forecast adjusted earnings of $4.50 to $4.65 a share on revenue of $3.05 billion to $3.1 billion for the quarter. Analysts surveyed by FactSet expect $4.65 a share on revenue of $3.09 billion. Last month, Alexion announced the departure of its chief executive and financial chief following an accounting probe.

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Alphabet unit Google has been sued by the Labor Department to provide data on compensation. As a contractor, Google was asked in Sept. 2015 about its equal opportunity program and to provide supporting documents. The complaint says Google refused to do so in June and has not done so after follow-up requests. If the company fails to comply, the department asks the court to cancel all of Google’s current government contracts and to debar the company from entering into future contracts.

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The American Petroleum Institute late Wednesday reported a much bigger-than-expected drop of 7.4 million barrels in U.S. crude supplies for the week ended Dec. 30, according to sources. Analysts polled by S&P Global Platts forecast a stockpile decline of 1.7 million barrels. Supply data from the Energy Information Administration will be released Thursday morning, a day late due to the New Year’s Day holiday. February crude was at $53.30 a barrel in electronic trading, up from the contract’s settlement of $53.26 on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

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Shares of traditional department stores fell in the extended session Wednesday after Kohl’s Inc. lowered its outlook and Macy’s Inc. announced store closures. Kohl’s shares dropped 12% to $45.60 after the company cut its fiscal 2016 earnings outlook after volatile holiday sales. Macy’s shares fell 8.6% to $32.80 after hours after the company announced plans to close 68 stores and lay off 6,200 employees in 2017. The news caused a ripple effect across department store shares after hours with shares of Nordstrom Inc. down 6% at $46, J.C. Penney Co. shares down 4.4% at $8.10, Dillard’s Inc. shares falling 3.1% to $61, Sears Holdings Corp. shares down 2.4% at $10.11, and Ross Stores Inc. shares declining 1.5% to $65.55.

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Macy’s shares fell 5% after hours Wednesday after the department-store operator announced 68 store closures and issued a profit warning. It said the store closures would eliminate 3,900 jobs, while a restructuring in early 2017 would result in the cutting of 6,200 employees. The majority of the 68 store closings are slated to take place in 2017 and are part of the planned 100 closings announced in August 2016. Because of the store shutdowns, Macy’s said it expects 2017 sales to see a negative impact of $575 million. “We continue to experience declining traffic in our stores, where the majority of our business is still transacted,” said Terry Lundgren, chief executive of Macy’s, adding that the online operation is seeing strong sales. With Wednesday’s announcement, the company expects to see $250 million in charges to be recorded in the fourth quarter of 2016, which was not previously included in the guidance. The company is also looking to sell real estate and said it has entered into an agreement to sell its downtown Minneapolis store to 601W Cos. Shares of Macy’s have fallen 15.6% in the past month, as compared with the S&P 500’s gain of 3.6%. (A previous version of this Market Pulse item included the job reduction resulting from restructuring but not store closures. It has been updated.)

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Macy’s shares fell 5% after hours Wednesday after the department store announced 68 store closures, a restructuring resulting in the cutting of 6,200 employees in early 2017 and issued a profit warning. The majority of the 68 store closings are slated to take place in 2017 and are part of the planned 100 closings announced in August 2016. Because of the store closings, Macy’s said it expects 2017 sales to see a negative impact of $575 million. “We continue to experience declining traffic in our stores where the majority of our business is still transacted,” said Terry Lundgren, chief executive of Macy’s, adding that the online business is seeing strong sales. With Wednesday’s announcement, the company expects to see $250 million of charges to be recorded in the fourth quarter of 2016, which was not previously included in the guidance. The company is also looking to sell real estate and said it entered into an agreement to sell its downtown Minneapolis Store to 601W Companies. Shares of Macy’s have fallen 15.6% in the past month, compared to the S&P 500’s gain of 3.6%.

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Online publishing site Medium announced Wednesday that it was cutting 50 jobs and shutting down its New York and Washington D.C. offices as it works to change its business model. This past year was the best year for the site, with readers and published posts up 300%, according to a blog post from Ev Williams, chief executive of Medium. But Williams wrote that the site was being supported by an ad-driven model, which was a break from the innovative media platform it is striving to be. “To continue on this trajectory put us at risk…of becoming an extension of a broken system,” Williams wrote. He said it is “too soon” to say what the new model for Medium will be. The cuts reduce the Medium team by about a third and include some executives from the two shuttered offices, according to the post.

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Oil futures finished higher Wednesday for the first time in four sessions. Signs that major oil producers are sticking to their pledge to cut output and bets that U.S. crude supplies fell for the first time in three weeks helped prices recoup most of the prior day’s drop. Weekly U.S. supply data from the American Petroleum Institute and Energy Information Administration are due out late Wednesday and early Thursday, respectively, with each delayed by a day because of the New Year’s Day holiday. Analysts polled by S&P Global Platts forecast a decline of 1.7 million barrels in crude stockpiles for the week ended Dec. 30. February West Texas Intermediate crude rose 93 cents, or 1.8%, to settle at $53.26 a barrel.

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Gold futures held onto their gains in electronic trading late Wednesday after settling at a more than three-week high. Minutes from the U.S. Federal Reserve’s December meeting revealed that officials from the central bank saw the possibility that they might have to raise interest rates faster than the “gradual” pace that they have stressed for some time. Higher interest rates can be a negative for gold, which tends to benefit from looser monetary policy, but the U.S. dollar extended its decline after the minutes, offering dollar-denominated gold some support. February gold was at $1,165.90 an ounce in electronic trading. It had settled at $1,165.30 an ounce, up $3.30, or 0.3%, for the session.

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U.S. stocks were largely unchanged Wednesday following the release of minutes from the Federal Reserve’s December policy meeting. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 44 points, or 0.2%, to 19,926. The S&P 500 index advanced 11 points, or 0.5 %, to 2,269. The Nasdaq Composite index rose 42 points, or 0.8%, to 5,471. In the minutes, Fed officials discussed the possibility of a faster pace of rate hikes going forward.

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