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Wayfair Inc. said Thursday that it will add 450 jobs in Big Flats, New York through a new customer service center. The jobs will be full-time management, customer service and sales positions. The facility is scheduled to open this summer with hiring beginning this month. Wayfair has 7,700 employees around the world including customer service centers in Massachusetts, Maine, Utah and Texas. Wayfair shares are up 85.7% for the past year while the S&P 500 index is up 14.5% for the period.

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From:: Stock Market News

Shares of Facebook fell on Thursday, extending a recent selloff spurred by a controversy over how it handles user data. The stock fell 1% in early trading. Thus far this week, it has shed 10.3%, putting it on track for its biggest weekly percentage drop since March 2014. The social-media giant is down 14% from an all-time high hit earlier this year; it is down 4.9% for 2018. However, it remains up 20.3% over the past 12 months. Facebook has has been enduring a firestorm and stock selloff after data-mining company Cambridge Analytica reportedly used the personal details of 50 million Facebook users without authorization. On Wednesday night, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg apologized for the controversy during an interview with CNN, and said he’d be willing to testify before Congress. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 1.1% while the S&P 500 was down 0.9% and the Nasdaq Composite Index shed 1%.

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Yum Brands Inc.’s Taco Bell brand will sell tortilla chips in grocery and convenience stores starting in May. The chips will come in the Fire and Mild flavors of the brand’s sauce packets, and a Classic flavor. The Fire flavor includes jalapeño, chili peppers and paprika, and Mild has three chili peppers and cumin. Yum brands shares are up 30.2% for the last year while the S&P 500 index is up 14.2% for the period.

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U.S. stocks opened sharply lower on Thursday as news that President Donald Trump would propose trade duties on China imports stoked fresh fears about a potential trade war between two of the world’s largest economies that could impede domestic economic expansion in roughly its ninth year. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 340 points, or 1.3%, at 24,375, while the S&P 500 index was off 1.2%. The Nasdaq Composite Index traded 1.3%% at 7,253. Technology shares led losses on Thursday, as investors grapple with the Federal Reserve’s policy update from Wednesday, in which the central bank lifted rates by a quarter-point to a range of 1.50% and 1.75%, but signaled that it might be more aggressive in lifting rates in the coming years. On trade, The Trump administration plans to release a package of proposed punitive measures aimed at China that include tariffs on imports worth at least $30 billion. Shares of Facebook fell sharply, extending a downtrend, as its user-information problems continued, even after CEO Mark Zuckerberg took to media outlets to apologize for the social network’s recent missteps.

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Shares of Wynn Resorts Ltd. fell 0.8% in premarket trade Thursday, adding to the previous session’s 2.9% selloff, after Stephen Wynn, the founder and former chief executive, disclosed the sale of about one-third of his stake in the casino operator. Wynn, who stepped down as CEO last month following allegations of sexual misconduct, said in an SEC filing that he sold 4,104,199 common shares at $180 on Wednesday, for a value of $738.9 million. On Wednesday, the stock traded in an intraday range of $178.59 to $183.04 and closed at $178.92. The sale brings Wynn’s stake down to 8,026,708, or 7.8% of the shares outstanding, which would make him the third-largest shareholder, behind The Vanguard Group at 8.5% and his ex-wife Elaine Wynn at 9.3%, according to FactSet. In Thursday’s filing, Wynn said he intends to sell all or a portion of the stake controlled by him. At Wednesday’s closing price, Wynn’s remaining stake is worth about $1.44 billion. Wynn Resorts’s stock has rallied 6.7% over the past three months through Wednesday, while the S&P 500 has gained 1.1%.

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Duke Energy Corp. said Thursday it is planning to invest $11 billion through 2026 in new natural-gas fired, wind and solar generation, as part of a broader plan to adapt to a low-carbon future. The company made the pledge in a climate report, outlining how it will lower its carbon emissions. The company said it will continue to modernize its fleet; by 2030 it expects more than 80% of its power generation mix to come from zero and lower CO2-emitting sources. The company will also continue to invest in its nuclear fleet and may extend nuclear operating licenses. it will invest $25 billion between 2017 and 2026 to create a smarter and more resilient grid, including putting electric lines underground to protect against extreme weather. Shares were slightly lower premarket, and are down about 8% in the last 12 months, while the S&P 500 has gained 15%.

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Shares of Pandora Media Inc. are up 5.9% in premarket trading Thursday after Raymond James analyst Justin Patterson upgraded the stock two notches, to strong buy from market perform. Patterson’s upgrade comes on the heels of Pandora’s announcement that it would be buying AdsWizz, an ad-tech platform that Patterson’s “back-of-the-envelope math” says could be worth about $4 a share. Patterson sees AdsWizz giving Pandora exposure to the $28 billion worldwide market for audio advertising and expanding the company’s reach. “A platform shift is underway with smart speakers,” Patterson wrote. “This creates the need for audio-based ad formats, which Pandora is uniquely positioned for.” Patterson assigned a $8 price target to Pandora shares, which are down 58% over the past 12 months. The S&P 500 is up 15% in that time.

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Stifel analyst Scott Devitt trimmed his Facebook Inc. stock price target to $168 from $195 late Wednesday in a colorful note that compared Facebook to eBay Inc. and said that Facebook shares belonged in something akin to Berkshire Hathaway Inc. [S: brka] CEO Warren Buffett’s “too hard” pile for stocks where there’s not enough information out there. Like eBay back in 2014, Facebook is “an unstructured content business built on trust that lost that trust prior to implementing policies to add structure and process,” wrote Devitt, who kept his hold rating on shares. He wrote that Instagram may be able to save Facebook, just as PayPal was thought to be able to save eBay back in the day. Still, he’s concerned by the uncertainty around Facebook’s latest data issue. “We would buy all of our Buy-rated stocks and many of our Hold-rated stocks before we would buy Facebook shares, given the information available to us,” Devitt wrote. Facebook shares are down 1.7% in premarket trading but up 21% over the past 12 months. The S&P 500 is up 15% in that time.

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Shares of arts supplies retailer Michaels Cos. slid 10% premarket Thursday, after the company offered guidance for fiscal 2018 that was below estimates. The company said it had net income of $202.9 million, or $1.11 a share, in its fiscal fourth quarter to Feb. 3, up from $197.4 million, or 95 cents a share, in the year-earlier period. Adjusted per-share earnings came to $1.19, matching the FactSet consensus. Sales rose to $1.891 billion from $1.751 billion, ahead of the FactSet consensus of $1.879 billion. Same-store sales rose 2.5%, more than the 1.8% FactSet consensus. The company said it will continue to invest in its strategic priorities in fiscal 2018, including its brand assortment and online business. It has decided to close 94 of its Aaron Brothers stores and reposition the brand as a “store-within-a-store,” offering custom framing services at Michaels Stores. The company expects to take charges of $37 million to $42 million on the closures, most of which will be booked in the first quarter. For all of fiscal 2018, the company is expecting sales of $5.217 billion to $5.293 billion, and adjusted EPS of $2.19 to $2.32. The FactSet consensus is for sales of $5.368 billion and EPS of $2.59. Shares have fallen 1.9% in the last 12 months, while the S&P 500 has gained 15%.

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From:: Stock Market News