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Mortgage Rate Decline Likely to Hold

Concerns about inflation, or the lack thereof, helped to pull down long-term rates on home loans to the lowest level since last year. Signs point to little or no change in the next report.

Thirty-year fixed rates on single-family loans averaged 3.86 percent in Freddie Mac’s Primary Mortgage Market Survey for the week ended Aug. 24.

That was the lowest average for long-term rates on residential loan since the week ended Nov. 10, 2016, when 30-year rates were reported at 3.57 percent.

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Adamas Pharma shares soar on Parkinson’s dyskinesia drug approval

Adamas Pharmaceuticals Inc. shares soared after the drug maker received Food and Drug Administration approval for a one-of-a-kind treatment for the involuntary movements associated with Parkinson’s disease. Adamas shares jumped 36% to $19.30 on heavy volume after hours. The company said the FDA approved Gocovri for the treatment of dyskinesia, or the abnormal or involuntary movements, associated with Parkinson’s, the only such FDA drug approved for this indication. Adamas expects to roll out Gocovri in the fourth quarter with the full backing of its sales force by January.

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.

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Pure Storage gains after CEO switch, guidance boost

Pure Storage Inc. announced a change at the top along with a slightly more optimistic annual forecast Thursday afternoon, and shares gained in late trading. The enterprise flash-storage company said that Chief Executive Scott Dietzen, who led Pure Storage through its 2015 initial public offering, would step down from the CEO role and transition to chairman. He will be replaced by Charles Giancarlo, previously an executive at Silver Lake Partners and Cisco Systems Inc. , effective immediately. Pure Storage also revealed its earnings for the second quarter and increased its forecast for full-year revenue to a level that suggests the company could hit $1 billion in annual sales for the first time. The company reported a net loss of $61.7 million, or 29 cents a share, on revenue of $224.5 million, up 38% from $163.2 million in the year-ago quarter. After adjusting for stock-based compensation and other effects, Pure Storage claimed a loss of 11 cents a share after reporting adjusted quarterly losses of 16 cents a share a year ago. Analysts on average expected an adjusted loss of 5 cents a share on sales of $218.1 million. Pure Storage also added $10 million to the bottom of its projected revenue range for the full year, which is now $985 million to $1.025 billion. Pure Storage shares gained more than 4% in after-hours actions following the report, after closing the regular session with a 0.8% decline at $12.56.

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.

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GameStop beats EPS expectations but shows sales decline in the U.S.

Shares of GameStop Corp. fell more than 6% late Thursday after the specialty retailer missed quarterly earnings expectations and showed a decline in comparable-store sales in the U.S. GameStop said it earned $22.2 million, or 22 cents a share, in the second quarter, compared with $27.9 million, or 27 cents a share, in the year-ago period. Adjusted for one-time items, GameStop earned $14.9 million, or 15 cents a share, in the quarter, compared with $27.9 million, or 27 cents a share, in the prior-year quarter. Revenue rose to $1.69 billion, from $1.63 billion a year ago, and comparable-store sales rose 1.9% as an increase of 9.8% in international sales offset a 1.4% fall in the U.S. Analysts polled by FactSet had expected adjusted earnings of 18 cents a share on sales of $1.64 billion. The shares ended the regular trading session up 1.4%.

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.

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Splunk shares rally on earnings beat, raised outlook

Splunk Inc. shares rallied in the extended session Thursday after the data-analytics software company topped Wall Street estimates for the quarter and raised its outlook. Splunk shares surged 7.8% to $65 after hours. The company reported a second-quarter loss of $83.5 million, or 60 cents a share, compared to a loss of $86.6 million, or 65 cents a share, in the year-ago period. Adjusted earnings were 8 cents a share. Revenue rose to $280 million from $212.8 million in the year-ago period. Analysts surveyed by FactSet had estimated adjusted earnings of 6 cents a share on revenue of $268.8 million. For the year, Splunk estimates revenue of $1.21 billion to $1.22 billion, up from a previous estimate of just under $1.2 billion. Analysts had forecast revenue of $1.2 billion.

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.

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VMware shares jump after hours on second-quarter earnings beat

VMware Inc. shares jumped in the extended session Thursday after the company’s second-quarter earnings beat Wall Street expectations. VMware shares rose 1.3% to $102.11 after hours. The virtualization company’s net income rose to $334 million, or 81 cents a share, compared to $265 million, or 62 cents a share, in the year-ago period. Adjusted earnings were $1.19 a share. Revenue increased 12% to $1.9 billion from $1.69 billion in the year-ago period. Analysts surveyed by FactSet had estimated adjusted earnings of $1.15 a share on revenue of $1.88 billion. Analysts model third-quarter adjusted earnings of $1.28 a share on sales of $$1.93 billion. VMware stock has gained 38.4% year-to-date, while the S&P 500 index has gained 8.9%.

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.

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Ulta Beauty shares fall as company’s sales growth slows

Shares of Ulta Beauty Inc. tanked late Thursday after the retailer posted quarterly earnings above Wall Street expectations but its sales growth slowed year-on-year. The company said it earned $114 million, or $1.83 a share, in the second quarter, compared with $90 million, or $1.43 a share, in the second quarter of 2016. Sales rose 21% to $1.29 billion, from $1.07 billion a year ago. Analysts polled by FactSet had expected earnings of $1.78 a share on sales of $1.28 billion. Comparable-store sales rose 12%, in line with Wall Street expectations but compared to an increase of 14% in the second quarter of 2016. Ulta said it expects net sales in the range of $1.33 billion to $1.35 billion for the third quarter, which would be up from $1.13 billion in the third quarter of fiscal 2016. Comparable sales for the third quarter of 2017, including e-commerce sales, are expected to increase 9% to 11%. The company reported a comparable sales increase of 16.7% in the third quarter of 2016. For full-year fiscal 2017, the company aimed for comparable-store sales growth between 10% and 11%, compared with a previous guidance of growth between 9% and 10%. Shares ended the trading day up 0.7%.

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.

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Shares of news publisher McClatchy gain as much as 12%

Shares of news and publishing company McClatchy Co. were up as much as 12% in afternoon trade on Thursday. There was no obvious news surrounding the company. Market insiders seem to believe the move was related to investors covering short positions. Shares of McClatchy have declined nearly 49% in the year to date and 61% in the last 12 months. By comparison, the S&P 500 index has gained 9% in the year and more than 12% in the last 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.

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WTI oil ends lower, but gasoline, natural gas rise on Gulf of Mexico storm

Oil settled lower Thursday, pressured as expectations that Hurricane Harvey in the Gulf of Mexico may weaken demand for energy outweighed support from production slowdowns in the region. Natural-gas prices, however, inched a bit higher, while gasoline prices rallied on potential disruptions to processing facilities and refineries. October West Texas Intermediate crude lost 98 cents, or 2%, to settle at $47.43 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. September natural gas ended at $2.949 per million British thermal units, up 2.1 cents, or 0.7%, and September gasoline jumped 4.5 cents, or 2.8%, to end at $1.664 a gallon-the highest finish for this month to date.

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.

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From:: Stock Market News