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Data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration on Thursday showed that domestic supplies of natural gas rose by 30 billion cubic feet for the week ended Aug. 25. On average, analysts were looking for a build of 29 billion cubic feet, according to a survey of analysts conducted by S&P Global Platts. Total stocks now stand at 3.155 trillion cubic feet, down 239 billion cubic feet from a year ago, but 8 billion cubic feet above the five-year average, the government said. October natural gas fell a penny, or 0.3%, from Wednesday’s settlement to $2.929 per million British thermal units. It traded at $2.934 before the data.

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Futures for gasoline jolted higher early Thursday, with the expiring September contract surging 12%, following reports that a key refining plant in the Gulf Coast would be closed for two weeks due to flooding resulting from then-Hurricane Harvey over the weekend. September gasoline futures , which expire Thursday, were already sharply higher, but added to its rise–above $2 a gallon–marking its highest level since July 2015, according to FactSet data, currently up 12% at $2.110 a gallon. Gasoline gains accelerated after a Reuters report said the nations largest refinery, Motiva Enterprises’ Port Arthur, Texas would be closed for two weeks, likely exacerbating an expected shortage of gasoline in the wake of the record flooding delivered by the Harvey storm system, that has wreaked havoc on the Gulf Coast, a key refining hub of crude-oil and crude-oil byproducts. The more than 600,000-barrel a day refinery in Port Arthur owned by Saudi Arabia state-oil company, known as Aramco, was closed on Wednesday and is expected to be closed as damages are assessed from floodwaters and winds from Harvey, Reuters said. Expiring contracts tend to be more volatile as they are thinly traded. Still, the most-active October gasoline contract was up 4.7% at $1.716 a gallon.

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U.S. stock-index benchmarks opened firmly higher Thursday, the final session in August, as a pair of economic reports helped to support recent buying in risk assets like stocks. The Dow Jones Industrial Average opened up 0.3% at 21,950, flirting with a return to the psychologically significant level of 22,000. The S&P 500 index climbed 0.3% at 2,466, while the technology-laden Nasdaq Composite Index rose 0.5% at 6,398. For the month, the Nasdaq is looking at an August gain of 0.8% so far, the S&P 500 has slipped 0.1%, while the Dow is up 0.3% on the month. In corporate news, Shares of retailer Dollar General Corp. and food giant Campbell Soup Co. fell after posting earnings ahead of the open. onsumer spending rose 0.3% last month, helped by higher incomes and low inflation. The pace of inflation, meanwhile, was little changed in July, up 0.1%. On the economic front, initial jobless claims in the period running from Aug. 20 to Aug. 26 rose by 1,000 to 236,000, which is still close to a postrecession low, pointing to another solid monthly employment report near the end of summer. Official jobs report will be released Friday at 8:30 a.m. Eastern. Separately, Chicago PMI held steady at 58.9 in August, and consumer spending rose 0.3% last month, helped by higher incomes and low inflation. The pace of inflation, meanwhile, was little changed in July, up 0.1%.

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From:: Stock Market News

U.S. stock-index benchmarks opened firmly higher on Thursday, the final session in August, as a pair of economic reports helped to support recent buying in risk assets like stocks. The Dow Jones Industrial Average opened up 0.2% at 21,934, flirting with a return to the psychologically significant level of 22,000. The S&P 500 index climbed 0.2% at 2,462, while the technology-laden Nasdaq Composite Index rose 0.3% at 6,384. For the month, the Nasdaq is looking at an August gain of 0.6% so far, the S&P 500 has slipped 0.2%, while the Dow is up 0.2% on the month. In corporate news, Shares of retailer Dollar General Corp. and food giant Campbell Soup Co. fell after posting earnings ahead of the open.

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Macy’s Inc. , Best Buy Co. Inc. , and Office Depot Inc. are among the retailers that have expanded same-day delivery now that Deliv, a third-party delivery service provider, has expanded to 33 markets. The service was previously available in 19 markets. Deliv will now be in more than 1,400 cities, including Austin, Charlotte, Orlando and San Diego. Deliv launched Deliv Fresh earlier this year, for grocery and meal service delivery, and began offering same-day delivery for beer, wine and spirits in June. The SPDR S&P Retail ETF is down 11.5% for the year so far while the S&P 500 index is up 9.8% for the period.

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Land’s End Inc. shares soared more than 19% in Thursday premarket trading after it reported second-quarter sales that beat estimates. The apparel retailer had a net loss of $3.88 million in the quarter, or 12 cents per share, after a loss of $1.98 million, or 6 cents per share, for the same period last year. The FactSet consensus was for a loss per share of 9 cents. Revenue totaled $302.2 million, up from $292.0 million last year and ahead of the $293.0 FactSet estimate. Retail segment revenue fell 7.4% to $42.2 million due to fewer Land’s End Shops at Sears Holdings Corp. locations, the company said. Same-store sales increased 3.8%. Land’s End shares are down 21.3% for the past three months, and down 8.6% for the year so far. The S&P 500 index is up 9.8% for 2017 so far.

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Campbell Soup Co. shares slid 4.5% premarket Thursday, after the company missed fiscal fourth-quarter profit and sales estimates. Camden, N.J. -based Campbell Soup said it had net income of $318 million, or $1.04 a share, in the quarter, after a loss of $81 million, or 26 cents a share, in the year-earlier period. Adjusted per-share earnings came to 52 cents, below the FactSet consensus of 55 cents. Sales edged down to $1.664 billion from $1.687 billion, also below the FactSet consensus of $1.690 billion. “The operating environment for the packaged foods industry remains challenging due to shifting demographics, changing consumer preferences for food, the adoption of new shopping behaviors and the dynamic retailer landscape,” Chief Executive Denise Morrison said in a statement. “In these times, sales growth remains a challenge.” The company is now expecting fiscal 2018 sales to range from down 2% to flat. Adjusted EPS is expected to be flat to up 2%, or range from $3.04 to $3.11. The FactSet consensus is $3.05. Shares are down 17% in 2017, while the S&P 500 has gained 9.8%.

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Shares of retailer Genesco Inc. [s:GCO], owner of Journeys and Lids, were down more than 11% in premarket trade on Thursday after the company reported a wider loss for the fiscal 2018 second quarter than Wall Street had expected. Genesco said it had a net loss of $3.9 million, or 21 cents per share, after net earnings of $14.6 million, or 72 cents per share during the same quarter a year ago. The company’s adjusted loss per share was 10 cents, compared with the 8 cents loss FactSet consensus. Revenue for the quarter was $616.5 million, down from $625.6 million during the same quarter a year ago, and below FactSet’s $627.0 million consensus. Genesco Chief Executive Robert Dennis said that Journeys saw positive sales trends, but that was offset by increasing headwinds at Lids and a more dramatic shift in consumers choosing to shop online, which put pressure on profitability. “The second quarter was a bit more challenging than we expected,” Dennis said. He also said Genesco is lowering expectations for the year, cutting its per-share earnings range to $3.35 to $3.65 from the previously expected range of $3.90 to $4.05. FactSet’s consensus is for full-year earnings of $3.73 per share. Genesco shares have declined nearly 59% in the year to date, while the S&P 500 index is up almost 10%.

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From:: Stock Market News