Posted on

Saudi Aramco in talks to buy stake in PetroChina refinery: WSJ

Saudi Arabia’s state-owned oil company Saudi Aramco is in talks to buy a stake in a PetroChina Co. refinery, The Wall Street Journal reported on Friday, citing sources familiar with the matter. Saudi Aramco might take a more than 30% stake in PetroChina’s 260,000-barrels a day Anning plant in China’s Yunnan province, according to the report. The deal could be valued at $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.

…read more

From:: Stock Market News

Posted on

Swiss Re profit drops after Cyclone Debbie claims, shares fall

Swiss Re AG said Friday first-half net earnings fell to $1.21 billion from $1.87 billion in the year ago period. Profit was hurt by $360 million in claims in the wake of Cyclone Debbie that hit the Australian region in late March. The reinsurer’s gross written net premiums during the period came in at $18.15 billion, compared with $19.8 billion a year ago. Swiss Re’s shares fell 3.4% following the release of the results.

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.

…read more

From:: Stock Market News

Posted on

Royal Bank of Scotland swings to profit despite U.S. fine

Royal Bank of Scotland Group PLC said on Friday it returned to profit in the first half of the year, even as it’s been hit with a U.S. settlement fine. The bank posted a profit of £939 million ($1.23 billion) in the first six months of the year, compared with a loss of £2.05 billion in the year ago period. Profit for the second quarter came in at £680 million, swinging back from a loss of £1.1 billion in the same quarter last year. RBS also said it’s planning to move some operations to Amsterdam after Brexit, likely to affect around 150 people, according to the BBC.

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.

…read more

From:: Stock Market News

Posted on

PennyMac Lending Rises, Launching Broker Channel

PennyMac Financial Services Inc. sees opportunity in mortgage brokers and is about to launch a broker business. Quarterly originations increased as earnings declined.

The Westlake Village, California-based mortgage banking organization revealed in its second-quarter earnings report that its pre-tax income totaled $58 million.

Income retreated from $62 million in the preceding three-month period. The decline was even larger versus the same three months in 2016, when pre-tax income was $84 million.

…read more

From:: Financing

Posted on

Consumer Bankruptcies Down 2 Consecutive Months

The number of consumers who resorted to bankruptcy fell for the second month in a row. But filings remained elevated versus a year ago.

Total U.S. bankruptcies filed, including commercial and non-commercial filings, worked out to 61,366 during July, dropping from an upwardly revised 66,789 the prior month.

Despite the month-over-month improvement, however, the number of new bankruptcy cases was slightly elevated from an upwardly revised 61,371 a year prior.

…read more

From:: Financing

Posted on

Fluor shares fall on surprise quarterly loss, lowered outlook

Fluor Corp. shares fell in the extended session Thursday after the engineering and construction company reported an unexpected quarterly loss and cut its outlook for the year. Fluor shares fell 9.4% to $39.75 after hours. The company reported a second-quarter loss of $24 million, or 17 cents a share, compared to net income of $101.8 million, or 73 cents a share, in the year-ago period. Revenue declined to $4.72 billion from $4.86 billion in the year-ago period. Analysts surveyed by FactSet had estimated earnings of 60 cents a share on revenue of $4.89 billion. For the year, Fluor lowered estimated earnings to a range of $1.40 to $1.70 a share, down from a range of $2.25 to $2.75 a share. Analysts had estimated $2.42 a share.

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.

…read more

From:: Stock Market News

Posted on

Bed Bath & Beyond to cut in-store manager positions

Bed Bath & Beyond Inc. said late Thursday it has sped up a plan to “realign” its store management structure, which will result in the reduction of about 880 department and assistant store manager positions. “These actions accelerate a transition in store management roles that began more than a year ago through store hiring practices and attrition,” simplifying the stores’ management structure and focusing additional staffing needs in non-management roles, the company said in a statement. “There are no further reductions planned in connection with this realignment,” and after the plan is in place in-store staffing levels are expected to remain the same as before or, in some cases, increase, it said. The financial impact of the organizational changes has not been included in the company’s full-year modeling assumptions provided on April 5, Bed Bath & Beyond said. The company is scheduled to report its fiscal 2017 second-quarter results after the close on Sept. 19, and will provide then an update on its full-year guidance. Shares were flat in late trading after ending the regular session up 2.4%.

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.

…read more

From:: Stock Market News

Posted on

Wingstop shares rally after results top Street estimates, dividend initiated

Wingstop Inc. shares rallied in the extended session Thursday after the chicken wing chain topped Wall Street estimates and said it would start paying a dividend. Wingstop shares rose 7% to $32.35 after hours. The company reported second-quarter net income of $5.3 million, or 18 cents a share, compared to $4.1 million, or 14 cents a share, in the year-ago period. Revenue rose to $24.7 million from $22.7 million in the year-ago period. Analysts surveyed by FactSet had estimated earnings of 15 cents a share on revenue of $24.7 million. For the year, Wingstop estimates earnings growth of 23% to 25%, up from a previous forecast of 19% to 21% growth, for an outlook of about 71 cents to 73 cents a share. Analysts had forecast 70 cents a share. Separately, Wingstop said Michael Skipworth will become chief financial officer after having served in an interim role, and initiated a quarterly dividend of 7 cents a share to be paid Sept. 18 to shareholders of record as of Sept. 3.

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.

…read more

From:: Stock Market News

Posted on

Microsoft joins Facebook and Alphabet in move to GAAP reporting

Microsoft Corp. announced on a conference call Thursday afternoon that it will move to all GAAP reporting in its new fiscal year, a move that fellow tech giants like Facebook Inc. and Alphabet Inc. have also made recently. Microsoft conducted the earnings call to go over the changes to its financial reporting that will result from new revenue-recognition rules, which Microsoft is adopting earlier than most companies. The Securities and Exchange Commission has been cracking down on companies’ use of non-GAAP earnings, and tech companies appear to be moving away from those metrics, which typically strip out stock-based compensation and other effects to present healthier profit numbers. Microsoft also restated financial performance for the 2017 and 2016 fiscal years with the changes that the new revenue-recognition rules will bring in order for easier comparisons. Microsoft stock was unchanged in late trading, and has gained 16.1% so far this year, outperforming the 10.7% gain for the S&P 500 index.

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.

…read more

From:: Stock Market News