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Alphabet Inc.’s Google on Monday launched an appeal against the European Union’s 2.4 billion euro ($2.9 billion) antitrust fine that it was hit with in June. The EU’s competition commission had ruled that Google abused its dominant position to favor its own shopping comparison service in internet searches, ordering the company to stop the practice by Sept. 28. Google has previously said it disagreed with the EU decision and had indicated it would file an appeal. A spokesperson from the EU said “the Commission will defend its decision in court.” Last week, the EU’s highest court backed Intel Corp.’s appeal of a €1.06 billion antitrust fine from 2009, seen as dealing a blow to the antitrust regulator. Alphabet shares were up 1% in Monday’s trade.

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U.S. stock-index benchmarks jumped at the open on Monday, as Hurricane Irma hit Florida with less force than expected and North Korea failed to conduct another nuclear missile test over the weekend, helping to lure investors into buying assets perceived as risky like equities. The Dow Jones Industrial Average opened up 201 points, or 0.9%, at 22,010, while the S&P 500 index climbed 0.9% at 2,483, putting the broad-market gauge within range of its closing high. The Nasdaq Composite Index rallied 1.2% at 6,438, also within range of an all-time closing high. In corporate news, investors awaited the debut of Apple Inc.’s new iPhone 8 on Tuesday. In other corporate news, shares of Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. were up, after the Israeli drug company on Monday named Lundbeck’s Kare Schultz as its new chief executive. Meanwhile, Wall Street was marking the anniversary of 9/11.

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Exchange-traded funds that track the insurance sector rallied on Monday, after Hurricane Irma hit Florida with less force than expected. The SPDR S&P Insurance ETF gained 2.4% while the iShares U.S. Insurance ETF added 2.1%. The PowerShares KBW Property & Casualty Insurance Portfolio jumped 3.7% in its biggest one-day percentage gain since November 2011. Earlier in the session, it rose more than 5%, returning the fund to positive territory for the year. Among the ETF’s biggest gainers, Aspen Insurance Holdings Ltd. surged 12% while Validus Holdings Ltd. was up 7.5% and Maiden Holdings Ltd. was up 7.1%. Irma was downgraded to a Category 1 storm early Monday after tearing a destructive path across South Florida on Sunday. The hurricane, due to be downgraded to a tropical storm, is expected to hit Tampa and Orlando early Monday and Tallahassee later in the afternoon. Irma has left at least 4 million residents without power, fewer than had been expected. Verisk Analytics Inc.’s catastrophe modeling business AIR Worldwide estimates insured losses resulting from Hurricane Irma will be in the range of $20 billion to $40 billion. That compares with AIR Worldwide’s estimate of property damage resulting from Hurricane Harvey of more than $65 billion.

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From:: Stock Market News

U.S. stock-index benchmarks jumped at the open on Monday, as Hurricane Irma hit Florida with less force than expected and North Korea failed to conduct another nuclear missile test over the weekend, helping to lure investors into buying assets perceived as risky like equities. The Dow Jones Industrial Average opened up 190 points, or 0.9%, at 21,986, while the S&P 500 index climbed 0.8% at 2,481, putting the broad-market gauge within range of its closing high. The Nasdaq Composite Index rallied 1.1% at 6,432, also within range of an all-time closing high. In corporate news, investors awaited the debut of Apple Inc.’s new iPhone 8 on Tuesday. In other corporate news, shares of Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. were up, after the Israeli drug company on Monday named Lundbeck’s Kare Schultz as its new chief executive. Meanwhile, Wall Street was marking the anniversary of 9/11.

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Nordstrom Inc. said Monday that it is launching Nordstrom Local on October 3, a smaller shop that will have no dedicated inventory, but instead provide a variety of services including personal stylists. Trunk Club, Nordstrom’s personal styling company, will provide their services as well. The launch will be in West Hollywood, and Nordstrom Local will be 3,000 square feet with a styling suite and and eight dressing rooms, far smaller than the average 140,000-square-foot store. Other services include on-site alterations, same-day delivery, curbside pickup and manicures. Nordstrom shares are up 0.2% in premarket trading, and down 3.8% for the year so far. The SPDR S&P Retail ETF is down 9.1% for 2017 to date and S&P 500 index is up 10% for the period.

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Travelers Companies Inc.’s stock rallied 3% in premarket trade, putting it on track to pace the Dow Jones Industrial Average gainers for a second-straight session. The insurer’s stock had rallied 4.0% on Friday, after closing at a nine-month low on Thursday amid concerns over the effects of Hurricanes Harvey and Irma. J.P. Morgan analyst Sarah DeWitt said that although Irma, which has been downgraded Monday to a tropical storm, could be in the top 5 for most costly U.S. hurricanes, the losses are now expected to be in line or lower than expectations as of Friday. Elsewhere in the Dow, 27 of the 28 components that have traded ahead of the open are gaining ground. After Travelers, the biggest gainers are shares of Apple Inc. , up 1.2%, and Visa Inc. , up 1.0%. The lone loser is Home Depot Inc.’s stock , which slipped 0.9% premarket.

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Assurant Inc. said Monday that it estimates losses from Hurricane Irma will exceed its retention of $125 million, but will remain within its reinsurance program. From Hurricane Harvey, the risk management company said it expects reportable catastrophe losses net of reinsurance in the range of $134 million to $140 million. The company said in a statement that it “maintains strong surplus levels in its insurance companies,” and had about $625 million of capital as of June 30. The stock was indicated up about 1% in premarket trade. It had rallied 3.5% on Friday, after tumbled 15% over the past month to close Thursday at a nine-month low. The SPDR S&P Insurance ETF had lost 1.8% over the past three months, while the S&P 500 had gained 1.2%.

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Shares of Apple Inc. rallied 1.3% in premarket trade Monday, bouncing after last week’s selloff, as investors positioned for the technology giant’s product event, in which the much-anticipated new 10th-anniversary iPhone will be unveiled. The rally sets the stock to snap a four-session losing streak, in which the stock pulled back 3.3% from the Sept. 1 record close of $164.05. J.P. Morgan analyst Rod Hall said the most important unveil on Tuesday will be the specific week in October that the new iPhone begins shipping, because that could be a “few million units of impact” on his fiscal first-quarter earnings forecasts. Despite the recent weakness, the stock has run up 6.5% over the past three months, while the technology-heavy Nasdaq 100 has gained 3.0% and the Dow Jones Industrial Average has tacked on 2.5%.

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T-Mobile US Inc. [S: TMUS] said it will launch a nationwide internet-of-things network by mid-2018, a date that some analysts view as an aggressive target for a market that has yet to generate much revenue, the Wall Street Journal reported. The announcement is part of this week’s Mobile World Congress Americas conference in San Francisco, an event expected to include Apple Inc.’s latest iPhone launch. The T-Mobile network will use new narrowband radio standards, the WSJ report said. That means its signals use skinnier swaths of the wireless airwave spectrum for smaller, cheaper sensors that need less bandwidth than the average smartphone. T-Mobile will kick its move off with a test system live in Las Vegas next month. The company is moving to take advantage of cheaper chipsets that are bringing the cost of cellular devices in line with Wi-Fi, the Journal reported.

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Verisk Analytics Inc.’s catastrophe modeling business AIR Worldwide estimates insured losses resulting from Hurricane Irma will be in the range of $20 billion to $40 billion. That compares with AIR Worldwide’s estimate of property damage resulting from Hurricane Harvey of more than $65 billion. “Indeed, while rainfall totals of 10-15 inches with isolated pockets of up to 20 inches are expected across Florida, Irma’s forward motion should prevent the kind of accumulations and resulting flooding seen two weeks ago in Texas from Hurricane Harvey,” AIR Worldwide said. Verisk’s stock has climbed 3% over the past three months, while the S&P 500 has gained 1.2%.

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From:: Stock Market News