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The Dow Jones Industrial Average gave up slight gains in early trade to negative on Tuesday, as shares of Home Depot pressured the equity gauge. Home Depot’s stock was down $4.40, or 2.8%, and slicing approximately 30 points from the price-weighted Dow . A price move of about $1 in any of its 30 components equates to a roughly 6.85-point tilt in the Dow. A slide in shares of Chevron Corp., falling in line with crude-oil prices , and Nike Inc. weighed on the average, combining to exert a roughly 40-point weight on the Dow. Home Depot’s share decline came even as the home-improvement retailer Home Depot Inc. raised its outlook for the second time this year as it reported better-than-expected second-quarter results. Overall, the Dow was up 10 points, or less than 0.1%, at 22,004, while the S&P 500 index was little changed at 2,465, and the Nasdaq Composite Index was off less than 0.1% at 6,337. All three major benchmarks had opened slightly higher and were on track to book their third straight gain as tensions between the U.S. and North Korea ease and as a batch of economic reports, including retail sales, came in better than expected.

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Shares of Transocean Ltd. tumbled 6.3% in active midday trade Tuesday, after the oil services company announced a stock an agreement valued at $3.4 billion, including debt, to buy Norway’s Songa Offshore in a stock and convertible debt deal. Volume reached 25.4 million shares, already well above the full-day average of 16.2 million shares. The stock hit an all-time intraday low of $7.55 earlier in the session before paring some losses. Under terms of the deal, Songa Offshore shareholders will receive consideration comprised of 50% newly issued Transocean common shares and 50% in bonds convertible into common shares. RBC Capital analyst Kurt Hallead expects Transocean to issue 128.2 million shares, including convertibles, to raise the total share count, or dilute current shareholders, by 32% to 524.7 million shares. Songa shares rocketed 29% to a 17-month high. Transocean’s stock has plunged 47% year to date, while the VanEck Vectors Oil Services ETF has shed 33% and the S&P 500 has gained 10%.

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From:: Stock Market News

Traders on the federal-funds futures market ramped up their bets for one more rate hike this year to above 50%, according to CME Group data. 47% of the odds were on a quarter-percentage point point hike for the Dec. 13 policy meeting, and 3.4% of the odds were for a half-percentage point hike. This was in sharp contrast to last Friday’s reading of a 37.4% chance of a bump to interest rates. The shift in sentiment in favor of monetary tightening comes in the wake of a raft of stronger-than-expected economic data led by retail sales and Fed President Dudley’s comments on Monday suggesting he would not rule out a rate hike for this year. The 2-year Treasury yield , sensitive to the outlook for central bank policy, have risen about 5 basis points this week. The increase in odds for a rate hike have also helped lift financial stocks. The Financial Select Sector SPDR ETF climbed around 1.8% this week-to-date, while Goldman Sachs rose 2.3% over the same period.

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Shares of J.C. Penney Co. Inc. dropped 3.9% in morning trade Tuesday, putting them on track to close at a third-straight record low since the department store chain reported a wider-than-expected second-quarter loss. The stock has now plunged 32.7% amid a 5-session losing streak, the worst 5-day stretch since the stock began trading in January 1972, according to an analysis of FactSet data. J.C. Penney has been trying to fend off the “Amazon effect” which has led to several bankruptcies of brick-and-mortar retailers, by closing stores and focusing on categories such as appliances, but data within the July government retail sales report suggested that Penney’s efforts may be for naught. The report said department store sales fell 3.9% from a year ago and electronics and appliance store sales declined 0.5%, while nonstore retailer sales rose 11.5%. The stock has now tumbled 56% year to date, while the SPDR S&P Retail ETF has shed 12% and the S&P 500 has gained 10%.

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Uber Technologies Inc. has agreed to 20 years of third-party audits after Federal Trade Commission said that Uber misrepresented how much access employees had to personal information on consumers and drivers. After news reports in 2014 claimed that employees were “improperly accessing consumer data,” Uber said that it would monitor employee access. However, the FTC found Uber used its automated system that monitored access for less than a year and for nine months after that “rarely monitored” employee access. Further, the FTC alleges that Uber did not securely store the data, which later led to a data breach in May 2014, when more than 100,000 names and drivers license numbers were taken. Under the agreement with the FTC, Uber said it will not misrepresent how it monitors employees’ access to the data nor how it keeps that data secure. It also says it will put a new privacy program in place and have that program audited within 180 days and then every two years after that for the next 20 years.

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

The Dow Jones Industrial Average gave up slight gains in early trade to negative on Tuesday, as shares of Home Depot pressured the equity gauge. Home Depot’s stock was down $4.69, or 3%, and slicing approximately 30 points from the price-weighted Dow . A price move of about $1 in any of its 30 components equates to a roughly 6.85-point tilt in the Dow. A slide in shares of Chevron Corp., falling in line with crude-oil prices , and Nike Inc. weighed on the average, combining to exert a roughly 40-point tilt to the Dow. Home Depot’s decline came even as the home-improvement retailer Home Depot Inc. raised its outlook for the second time this year as it reported better-than-expected second-quarter results. Overall, the Dow was up 2 points, or less than 0.1%, at 21,998, while the S&P 500 index was off about 0.1% at 2,464, and the Nasdaq Composite Index was off 0.1% at 6,336. All three major benchmarks had opened slightly higher and were on track to book their third straight gain as tensions between the U.S. and North Korea ease and as a batch of economic reports, including retail sales, came in better than expected, before retreating in late-morning trade.

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

Shares of Fifth Third Bancorp. rallied 2.1% in morning trade Tuesday after the regional bank disclosed a stock repurchase agreement with Goldman Sachs & Co. to buy back $990 million worth of Fifth Third’s shares. Under terms of the agreement, Fifth Third will pay Goldman $990 million on Aug. 17, and expects to receive a “substantial majority” of the shares in the agreement by that day. The transaction is expected to be settled on or before Dec. 19. At current prices, the agreement would allow Fifth Third to buy back 36.33 million shares, or about 4.9% of the shares outstanding. Fifth Third said the repurchases would be part of the 100 million share buyback program announced in March. The stock has gained 1.0% year to date, while the SPDR S&P Regional Banking ETF has lost 3.0% and the S&P 500 has climbed 10.1%.

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

U.S. stock benchmarks opened higher a third straight session Tuesday as tensions between the U.S. and North Korea appeared to recede and as a spate of economic reports came in better than expected. The Dow Jones Industrial Average advanced slightly 0.1% at 22,019, the S&P 500 index climbed 0.1% at 2,467, while the Nasdaq Composite Index gained about 0.1% at 6,346. Tensions between the two nations appeared to ease on Tuesday, with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un deciding not to launch a threatened missile attack on Guam, according to Pyongyang’s state media. Meanwhile, A gauge of New York-area manufacturing soared to 25.2, marking a three-year high in August, a reading on retail sales surged 0.6% in July, while readings for June were increased to 0.3% from 0.2%. Also, a report on import prices showed an increase of 0.1% in July. The combination of upbeat economic data and easing geopoltical tensions helped to underpin equities slight rise. In corporate news, Shares of Dick’s Sporting Goods Inc. plunged 17% early Tuesday after the retailer reported second-quarter earnings that missed estimates, and issued a profit warning.

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

Shares of Omeros Corp. sank 8% in morning trade Tuesday, after the biopharmaceutical company took advantage of a recent surge in price to launch a public offering of shares. The company said late Monday that it was selling 3 million shares, which would represent about 6.7% of the shares outstanding. The company was also offering the underwriter of the offering options to buy up to an additional 450,000 shares. The company said Tuesday that the offering priced at $22.75, which was 7.6% below Monday’s closing price of $24.61. Omeros, which develops small-molecule and protein therapeutics to treat central nervous system disorders, said it planned to use the proceeds from the offering to fund research and development and clinical trials. The stock has more than doubled year to date, while the iShares Nasdaq Biotechnology ETF has rallied 17% and the S&P 500 has gained 10%.

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