Oil prices log biggest weekly gain of the year

Oil prices finished Friday at their highest level since late May, lifting their weekly gain to 8.6%, on the back of renewed output-curb commitments from some key oil producers and uncertainty surrounding supplies from Venezuela. September West Texas Intermediate crude rose 67 cents, or 1.4%, to settle at $49.71 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange for the session. Prices saw their biggest weekly percentage gain since early December.

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From:: Stock Market News

Ocwen Settles Investor Class Action

Ocwen Financial Corp. has agreed to settle for $56 million a long-running class action securities fraud lawsuit.

The action stems from accusations that the Florida-based company misled investors by hiding servicing misconduct and potential conflicts of interest in 2013 and 2014, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The agreement needs court approval.

In a cash-and-stock agreement, Ocwen has agreed to pay the plaintiffs $49 million in cash and 2.5 million shares of common stock with a value of $7 million, according to the Form 8-K SEC filing.


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From:: Financing

Under Armour’s stock’s low price doesn’t mean it is cheap

Shares of Under Armour Inc. slipped 0.4% in afternoon trade Friday, with Instinet analyst Simeon Siegel reiterating his bearish stance ahead of the athletic apparel maker’s second-quarter results due out next week. The company is scheduled to reveal its second-quarter report before Tuesday’s open, with analysts surveyed by FactSet expecting a second-straight quarterly loss. With the stock shedding 33% so far this year, Siegel said sentiment is already poor, but that’s unlikely to change given that investor concerns are growing. “We remain concerned over shares of [Under Armour] due to cautious channel checks and the potential for a shift in the perceived growth [opportunity] may ultimately place a focus on profitability metrics, any of which paint the shares as quite expensive,” Siegel wrote in a note to clients. He reiterated his reduce rating and his stock price target at $15, which is 22% below current levels. While Under Armour’s stock has tanked this year, rival Nike Inc.’s shares have rallied 15% year to date and the S&P 500 has climbed 10%.

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From:: Stock Market News

Gold marks highest finish since mid-June, up 1.1% for the week

Gold prices settled Friday at their highest level since mid-June, up 1.1% for the week, as reports of another missile test in North Korea and further weakness in the U.S. dollar boosted investment demand for the precious metal. August gold added $8.40, or 0.7%, to settle at $1,268.40 an ounce. The metal scored a third weekly gain in a row.

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From:: Stock Market News

Stitch Fix has confidentially filed to go public: report

Stitch Fix, a subscription clothing service, has filed confidentially to go public, according to TechCrunch, citing sources. The company has been rumored to be going public for months, with Reuters reporting in May that the company had hired Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan Chase & Co. to underwrite the offering. Under the JOBS Act, companies are able to file confidentially before releasing a public prospectus. In late June, the Securities and Exchange Commission moved to allow confidential filing for all companies, rather than the previous standard of companies with annual revenue of less than $1 billion. Stitch Fix would be another test of a subscription service model, after Blue Apron Holdings Inc.’s offering earlier this month. Shares of Blue Apron have fallen 28% month-to-date, while the S&P 500 has gained 2%.

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From:: Stock Market News

Baker Hughes data show weekly U.S. oil-rig count up a third time this month

Baker Hughes on Friday reported that the number of active U.S. rigs drilling for oil climbed by 2 to 766 rigs this week. The oil-rig count tallied a fall of 1 rig last week, after two-straight weeks of gains. The total active U.S. rig count, which includes oil and natural-gas rigs, was also up 8 at 958, according to Baker Hughes. September West Texas Intermediate crude was little changed from the level it traded at before the data. It was up 63 cents, or 1.3%, at $49.67 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

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From:: Stock Market News

Wells Fargo: FDA plan to lower nicotine could be opportunity for Altria, Philip Morris

Wells Fargo Securities analyst Bonnie Herzog said Friday that a new Food and Drug Administration plan to lower nicotine levels in cigarettes could be a long-term opportunity for makers of reduced-risk products like Altria Group Inc. and Philip Morris International Inc. . Shares of cigarette producers plunged after the FDA announcement, with Altria plummeting 9.6%, Philip Morris declining 0.4% and British American Tobacco plunging 7.2% in extremely heavy midday trade. Altria and Philip Morris, however, have a “unique competitive advantage” with smokeless iQOS devices. Philip Morris said “iQOS heats the tobacco just enough to release the flavorful nicotine-containing vapor but without burning the tobacco.” Even so, one medical journal study found that smoke from heat-not-burn cigarettes have 85% of the nicotine in conventional cigarettes. “We see this as an opportune entry point for long-term investors and would recommend building positions on today’s broad weakness,” Herzog said. “We also note that PM/MO’s premarket tobacco product application with the FDA to commercialize iQOS in the U.S. remains under review.” Altria shares have dropped 6.9% over the last three months and Philip Morris shares have risen 5.8%, compared with a 3.6% rise in the S&P 500 .

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From:: Stock Market News

Redfin goes public, stock explodes in early trading

Online real estate brokerage Redfin became the latest real estate company to go public, when the company’s shares began trading on the Nasdaq on Friday morning. Traders ate up the stock after it began trading at approximately 10am Eastern on Friday. In early trading, Redfin’s stock (trading under the symbol “RDFN”) shot up past $20 per share, an increase of more than 35% above its initial trading price. …read more

From:: Real Estate Wire

UPDATE: Invisalign maker Align stocks surge 8% after earnings blow past estimates

Align Technology Inc. shares surged 9% Friday to lead S&P 500 gainers, after the maker of Invisalign dental braces blew past second-quarter earnings estimates. San Jose, California-based Align said late Thursday it had net income of $69.2 million, or $85 cents a share, in the quarter, up from $50.1 million, or 62 cents a share, in the year-earlier period. Revenue rose to $356.5 million from $176.9 million. The FactSet consensus was for EPS of 72 cents and revenue of $344 million. North American shipments rose 27.6% while international shipments jumped 37%. The company said Invisalign shipments to the teen market rose 37.6%, after hitting a milestone of 1 million teen patients. The company said it now expects net revenue of $355 million to $360 million in the third quarter, and EPS of 78 cents to 81 cents. The FactSet consensus is for EPS of 81 cents and revenue of $359 million. Leerink analysts welcomed the progress made in the key teen market. “Our recent diligence suggests that orthodontists see Invisalign potentially capable of addressing 60+% of their Teen cases, which would be well-above our 8% estimated penetration into Align’s North American teen TAM (“fully loaded” ~3.94M cases) by 2020,” they wrote in a note. Align shares have gained 77% in 2017, while the S&P 500 has gained 11%.

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From:: Stock Market News