Category: Uncategorized

The pound on Friday reached its strongest level against the U.S. dollar since the June 2016 Brexit referendum, extending gains following a Bloomberg report that Spanish and Dutch finance officials will work toward the EU reaching a so-called soft Brexit deal with the U.K. Sterling hit an intraday high of $1.3693, the highest the June 2016 Brexit referendum that sent the pound tumbling from around $1.50 on the day of the vote. A soft Brexit arrangement would aim to keep U.K. financial and trade as close to the EU as possible after Britain’s expected exit from the bloc in 2019. Spanish Economy Minister Luis de Guindos and his Dutch counterpart Wopke Hoekstra met this week and their concerns include losing the U.K.’s contributions to the EU, according to the report.

Market Pulse Stories are Rapid-fire, short news bursts on stocks and markets as they move. Visit MarketWatch.com for more information on this news.

…read more

From:: Stock Market News

Shares of Performant Financial Corp. rocketed 39% in active morning trade Friday, after the company said it won a new contract to provide collection services on defaulted federal student loans. Volume topped 1 million shares within a minute after the open, compared with the full-day average of about 39,000 shares, according to FactSet. The company said the Department of Education has capped the total award amount for the contract, which runs from Jan. 11, 2018 through Jan. 10, 2023, at $400 million. Performant said it didn’t expect to recognize “meaningful” revenue from the contract until nine or tenth months after placements begin, and expect to incur additional expenses in the short term as it prepares initiate services under the new contract. The stock has rallied 21% over the past 12 months, while the S&P 500 has climbed 22%.

Market Pulse Stories are Rapid-fire, short news bursts on stocks and markets as they move. Visit MarketWatch.com for more information on this news.

…read more

From:: Stock Market News

Medical technology company Becton Dickinson and Co. said Friday it has received a warning letter from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration relating to its preanalytical systems business unit. The company said it will provide a full response to the regulator by its Feb. 1 deadline. “We take any potential issue with our products very seriously and are cooperating fully with FDA on this matter,” Richard Byrd, worldwide president of the preanalytics business said in a statement. “After the FDA inspection in July, we took prompt action that we believed fully addressed the agency’s inspectional observations.” The FDA said its letter cited several violations of federal law, including the marketing of modified versions of BD Vacutainer blood collection tubes without securing FDA approval and failing to submit medical device reports to the FDA within a required timeframe. “Our inspection showed that BD violated the law by making a significant change to certain devices the company manufactures without notifying the FDA and failing to follow good manufacturing practice requirements,” said Donald St. Pierre, acting director of the Office of In Vitro Diagnostics and Radiological Health and deputy director of new product evaluation at the FDA’s Center for Devices and Radiological Health. “We are continuing to aggressively investigate this issue, including whether the use of BD tubes led to inaccurate lead test results.” Shares were slightly lower Friday, but have gained 30% in the last 12 months, while the S&P 500 has gained 22%.

Market Pulse Stories are Rapid-fire, short news bursts on stocks and markets as they move. Visit MarketWatch.com for more information on this news.

…read more

From:: Stock Market News

The Dow Jones Industrial Average and S&P 500 index opened higher on Friday, extending their run into the record books, as fourth-quarter corporate earnings season kicked off. The Dow rose 90 points, or 0.4%, at 25,670, the S&P 500 index climbed 0.2% at 2,771. However, the Nasdaq Composite Index was under pressure, trading flat at 7,213, as Facebook Inc.’s shares fell 4.5% after late Thursday announcing changes to the news feed on its social-network platform. All three benchmarks were on track for weekly gains of at least 1%. Meanwhile, J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. reported a 37% drop in earnings, although this was largely related to one-time charges associated from the new tax law, which is expected to provide further gains over the longer term. Wells Fargo & Co. reported earnings and revenue that came in below consensus analyst forecasts in the fourth quarter.

Market Pulse Stories are Rapid-fire, short news bursts on stocks and markets as they move. Visit MarketWatch.com for more information on this news.

…read more

From:: Stock Market News

Shares of Snap Inc. slumped 2.4% in premarket trade Friday, after Raymond James turned bearish on the Snapchat parent, saying it was just an “overvalued chat company.” Analyst Aaron Kessler cut his rating to underperform, after starting coverage at market perform in April 2017. He said Snap is largely a chat/messaging app, “which historically don’t monetize as well as newsfeeds,” and said company has struggled to gain share for its Discover platform, which is viewed as better to monetize. Kessler said user growth is likely to remain challenging, and valuation appears expensive given structural challenges and competitive concerns. Competition includes Facebook Inc.’s Instagram. He said agency checks indicate Snap’s platform is still largely experimental and user demographics are less attractive to advertisers. “In our discussions with ad agencies, Snapchat’s very young audience is not as attractive to many advertisers given their much lower income levels,” Kessler wrote in a note to clients. Snap’s stock has tumbled 40.4% since it went public on March 2, 2017 through Thursday, while the S&P 500 has run up 16% over the same time.

Market Pulse Stories are Rapid-fire, short news bursts on stocks and markets as they move. Visit MarketWatch.com for more information on this news.

…read more

From:: Stock Market News

Treasury yields rose after the December consumer price index came in higher than expected. Core consumer prices showed a 0.3% gain. Economists surveyed by MarketWatch were forecasting a 0.2% increase in the core gauge, which excludes energy and food prices. Higher inflation could dampen demand for bonds and push the Federal Reserve to pursue more aggressive monetary tightening. The 10-year Treasury note yield rose to 2.570%, up from 2.531% late Thursday, according to Tradeweb. The 2-year note yield was up to 2.010%, compared with 1.972%, the first time the short-dated maturity has broken above 2% since 2008. The 30-year bond yield was up slightly at 2.877%, versus 2.863%.

Market Pulse Stories are Rapid-fire, short news bursts on stocks and markets as they move. Visit MarketWatch.com for more information on this news.

…read more

From:: Stock Market News

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. said it will take an approximately 14 cents-per-share discrete charge related to the Sam’s Club reorganization that will result in the closure of 63 locations. The “vast majority” of the charge will be in the fourth quarter. After announcing a minimum wage increase and other benefits on Thursday, it was revealed that Sam’s Club locations nationwide were closing. Twelve of the 63 shuttered stores will be converted to e-commerce fulfillment centers. There will be 597 clubs remaining. Sam’s Club Chief Executive John Furner said the company is working to place as many displaced associates as possible to other locations. About 10,000 jobs will be affected, according to The Wall Street Journal. Wal-Mart will share additional information “as appropriate” when it reports quarterly results on Feb. 20, Wal-Mart shares are up 0.3% in Friday premarket trading and up 47.2% for the last year. The Dow Jones Industrial Average is up 28.6% for the past 12 months.

Market Pulse Stories are Rapid-fire, short news bursts on stocks and markets as they move. Visit MarketWatch.com for more information on this news.

…read more

From:: Stock Market News

GameStop Corp.’s stock tumbled 3.8% in premarket trade Friday, after the gaming products retailer reported a big jump in holiday sales, but said it would take impairment charges of $350 million to $400 million related to its technology brands business. The company said the charges were primarily a result of the negative impact of a longer upgrade cycle for new mobile devices and the changes made by AT&T Inc. to the compensation structure. For the nine-week holiday period ending Dec. 30, GameStop said total rose 10.6% to $2.77 billion and comparable-store sales increased 11.8%, as U.S. same-store sales jumped 18.7%. Within gaming, new hardware sales increased 38.3%, boosted by sales of the Nintendo Switch and the launch of Microsoft Corp.’s Xbox One X, while video game accessories sales grew 33.7% and pre-owned sales declined 8.1%. Technology brands sales fell 18.6%, given the limited availability of Apple Inc.’s iPhone X and changes in AT&T’s compensation structure. The company said it expects 2017 earnings per share “near the middle” of the previously provided guidance range of $3.10 to $3.40 and same-store sales growth of between 4% and 6%. The has gained 2.4% over the past three months but has lost 19% the past 12 months. The S&P 500 has rallied 22% the past year.

Market Pulse Stories are Rapid-fire, short news bursts on stocks and markets as they move. Visit MarketWatch.com for more information on this news.

…read more

From:: Stock Market News

WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) — Sales at U.S. retailers rose 0.4% in December, a fourth straight monthly gain. The increase was a notch below the MarketWatch forecast of 0.5%, but sales for November and October were both revised higher. Excluding automobiles and gasoline, retail sales also rose 0.4% last month. The consumer price index, meanwhile, rose 0.1% in December, with four-fifths of the increase tied to the cost of housing. The increase matched the MarketWatch forecast.

Market Pulse Stories are Rapid-fire, short news bursts on stocks and markets as they move. Visit MarketWatch.com for more information on this news.

…read more

From:: Stock Market News

Wells Fargo & Co. shares slid 1.4% in premarket trade Friday, after the bank posted weaker-than-expected earnings for the fourth quarter. The bank said it had net income of $6.25 billion, or $1.16 a share, in the quarter, up from $5.27 billion, or 96 cents a share, in the year-earlier period. Revenue fell to $22.05 billion from $22.24 billion. The FactSet consensus was for EPS of $1.23 and revenue of $22.45 billion. Earnings were boosted by a net benefit from the tax bill signed into law in December, making Wells Fargo one of few banks not to take a charge. Wells Fargo has a net deferred tax liability instead of a deferred tax asset, which has caused other banks to write down part of their tax liability. The benefit came to $3.35 billion, or 67 cents a share, which was offset by $3.25 billion in pretax charges related to litigation costs. The bank also booked a pretax gain of $848 million related to the sale of Wells Fargo Insurance Services USA. Shares have gained 16% in the last 12 months, while the S&P 500 has gained 21%.

Market Pulse Stories are Rapid-fire, short news bursts on stocks and markets as they move. Visit MarketWatch.com for more information on this news.

…read more

From:: Stock Market News