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Shares of BRT Apartments Corp. shot up 19% in afternoon trade Tuesday to a nine-year high, after the real estate investment trust initiated a dividend and renewed its stock repurchase program. The company said it will pay a quarterly dividend of 18 cents a share on Oct. 4 to shareholders of record on Sept. 25. At current prices, the new annual dividend rate implies a dividend yield of 7.68%, compared with the SPDR Real Estate Select Sector ETF’s dividend yield of 3.09%. The last time BRT paid a dividend was September 2009, according to FactSet data. BRT said that starting Oct. 1, it can buy back up to $5 million worth of its common stock over the next couple years. The stock had rallied 18% over the past three months, while the real estate ETF had gained 2.0% and the S&P 500 had tacked on 2.6%.

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From:: Stock Market News

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. said Tuesday that it is changing the way individual stores report up through the business structure in order to keep up with the fast pace of change in the retail sector. Previously, there were six divisional groups, which are now being trimmed to four. And 44 regional groups are being cut to 36. The company says there’s no restructuring of the stores taking place, but rather a change in how they are aligned. “Our last field restructure was several years ago and our business has changed over that time,” Wal-Mart said in a statement. “The structure we are putting in place will help improve communication and execution, streamline decision-making and help us accelerate our pace of change.” Wal-Mart shares are up 0.7% in Tuesday trading, and up 15.2% for the year so far. THe S&P 500 index is up 11.4% for 2017 to date.

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From:: Stock Market News

J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. CEO Jamie Dimon on Tuesday said trading revenue at the U.S.’s largest bank may be down by as much as 20% in the current quarter, compared with last year’s period, extending a downturn in trading amid muted volatility. Wall Street trading has been particularly soft even as stocks and bonds have been rallying in the waning period of a market that has been supported by central-bank buying across the globe, which has mostly subdued big swings. Market gyrations tend to help boost trading revenues bu the current environment, as measured by the CBOE Volatility Index , which gauges options bets on swings in the S&P 500 index , show a market that is well below its historic average of 20. The VIX was most recently around 10.81. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. also has been hurt by weak trading revenues, with its second-quarter results showing a 40% drop in fixed-income trading, compared with the same period last year. Still, shares of J.P. Morgan were up 1.5% in Tuesday afternoon trade, while Goldman’s sahres were up 2.7%, providing the biggest lift to the Dow Jones Industrial Average . Dimon made his remarks at an event Tuesday afternoon sponsored by Barclays , where he was introduced by his former JPM employee and current Barclays CEO Jes Staley.

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From:: Stock Market News

Shares of Goldman Sachs Group Inc. rallied Tuesday, to provide the biggest boost for Dow Jones Industrial Average , but some Wall Street analysts weren’t as enthusiastic as investors about the details of Goldman’s outline for growth. The stock climbed $6.29, or 2.8%, in afternoon trade. That added about 43 points to the Dow’s price, which was up 63 points at 22,121, above the Aug. 7 record close of 22,118.42. Goldman said earlier it targeted $5 billion in incremental revenue over the next three years, including more than $1 billion from its fixed income, currency and commodities (FICC) trading business, another $1 billion from its investment management business and over $2 billion from its lending and financing efforts. JMP analyst Devin Ryan appreciated the “good detail” around where the biggest opportunities are seen, but characterized the areas of focus as “largely incremental more than transformational.” Buckingham Research analyst James Mitchell reiterated his neutral rating, saying while Goldman’s revenue growth target was “laudable,” he remained “somewhat skeptical,” as much of the growth is expected from “challenging markets where rivals are fiercely competing for market share.” Goldman’s stock has lost 5.3% year to date, while the SPDR Financial Select Sector ETF has rallied 6.7% and the Dow has run up 11.5%.

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From:: Stock Market News

Corn prices fell sharply Tuesday, set to mark their lowest settlement in the month to date, after the U.S. Department of Agriculture raised its U.S. production outlook for the commodity. The USDA said it expects domestic output of nearly 14.2 billion bushels for the 2017/2018 crop year, up 32 million bushels from the forecast a month earlier. December corn fell almost 3% to $3.47 a bushel in Chicago. A settlement around this level would be the lowest since Aug. 30, according to FactSet data.

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From:: Stock Market News

Julian Robertson, chief executive of Tiger Management, on Tuesday spoke up in favor of the so-called FAANG stocks, arguing that Apple Inc. , Facebook Inc. , and Google Inc. are still cheap despite strong gains this year. “These great growth companies are priced cheaper than they ever would’ve been in the 60′s and the 70′s. I don’t think people realize that,” he said at the Delivering Alpha conference. However, he cautioned that the stock market’s valuation on the whole is “very high” which could lead to a bubble. Robertson also spoke favorably of Alibaba Group Holding and projected further growth for the Chinese online retailer. Alibaba shares were up 0.6% while Apple, Facebook and Google shares were trading in the red. Meanwhile, the hedge fund manager admitted that he still has not been able to understand bitcoin and said he probably never will.

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From:: Stock Market News

The U.S. Energy Information Administration lowered its forecasts for 2017 and 2018 U.S. crude-oil production, according to the agency’s monthly Short-term Energy Outlook report released Tuesday. The EIA forecast U.S. crude production at an average 9.25 million barrels per day in 2017, down 1% from the previous forecast. It sees 2018 output at 9.84 million barrels a day, down 0.7% from the previous forecast. The EIA also lowered its 2017 price forecast for West Texas Intermediate crude by 0.1% to an average $48.83 a barrel, but lifted its outlook on Brent crude by 0.7% to $51.07. October WTI crude was up 19 cents, or 0.4%, at $48.26 a barrel, while November Brent added 38 cents, or 0.7%, to $54.22.

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From:: Stock Market News