3M shares rise slightly on dividend hike, share buyback plan

3M Co. shares ticked higher in the extended session Tueday after the company hiked its dividend and announced a share buyback program. 3M shares advanced 0.8% to $149.10. The company said its board increased the quarterly dividend 8% to $1.11 a share. The dividend will be paid March 12 to shareholders as of Feb. 12. 3M’s board also authorized up to $10 billion in shares repurchases.

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Gilead Sciences shares rise on earnings, revenue beat

Gilead Sciences Inc. shares rose in the extended session Tuesday after the biotech topped Wall Street estimates on earnings and revenue for the quarter. Gilead shares advanced 2.2% to $84.48. The company reported adjusted fourth-quarter earnings of $3.32 on revenue of $8.51 billion. Analysts surveyed by FactSet had forecast $3 a share on revenue of $8.16 billion. Gilead forecast full-year 2016 revenue of $30 billion to $31 billion. Analysts have forecast $31.97 billion. Separately, Gilead said its board authorized an additional $12 billion in share buybacks, and a 10% dividend increase for the second quarter.

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U.S. stocks end sharply lower as oil slide resumes

U.S. stocks closed sharply lower on Tuesday following steep declines in global equity markets and a renewed slide in oil prices. The S&P 500 dropped 36.35 points, or 1.9%, to 1,903.03. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 295.64 points, or 1.8%, to 16,153.54. Meanwhile, the Nasdaq Composite ended the day down 103.42 points, or 2.2%, at 4,516.95.

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Goldman Sachs, Bank of America shares slump as Treasury yields drop

Goldman Sachs Group Inc.’s stock is tumbling 4.9%, as a broad-market selloff and a sharp drop in Treasury yields weighs heavily on the financial sector. Goldman’s stock price decline of $7.78 is shaving off about 53 points from the Dow Jones Industrial Average , which is down 282 points. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note has dropped to a 9 1/2-month low of 1.864%. Declines in longer-term rates often hurt banks, as it lowers the spread they earn from funding fund longer-term loans with shorter-term borrowings. Among other financial sector heavyweights, Bank of America Corp.’s stock is slumping 5.5%; volume of 125.6 million shares makes it the NYSE’s most-active issue. Elsewhere, shares of Dow component J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. are shedding 3.1%, of Citigroup Inc. are sliding 4.8% and of Wells Fargo & Co. are giving up 1.9%.

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WTI oil settles back under $30 a barrel

Oil futures fell Tuesday to settle below $30 a barrel, as expectations for cuts in crude output from major producers faded and the market readied for weekly data that are expected to show an increase in U.S. supplies. March West Texas Intermediate crude finished at $29.88 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, down $1.74, or 5.5%. That was the lowest finish since Jan. 21, according to FactSet data.

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Hillary Clinton declared official Iowa caucus winner

Hillary Clinton was declared the official winner of the Iowa causus early Tuesday afternoon after the state Democratic party finally tallied up all the votes. Her margin was laser thin. Clinton garnered 49.86% of the vote to 49.57% for Bernie Sanders, the Vermont senator. Former Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley won just 0.57% of the vote.

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Apple to unveil new iPhone at March 15 event: report

Apple Inc. will unveil a smaller-screen iPhone, a new iPad Air and new Apple Watch bands at a product event on March 15, according to a report in 9to5Mac. While Apple has historically kept new iPhone introductions to its flagship hardware event in September, the iPhone 5se would be a low-budget phone, possibly selling for $450, according to the report. Its four-inch screen would essentially replace the similarly-sized iPhone 5s, but with more up-to-date innards, such as an A9 chip. The company will also unveil the iPad Air 3 and provide updates to Apple Watch, according to 9to5Mac. Shares of Apple fell 1.2% to $95.28 amid a broad market selloff. The company did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

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Fed’s George: Market selloff ‘not all that unexpected’ nor ‘worrisome’

WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) – The recent stock-market selloff “is not all that unexpected” nor “necessarily worrisome” as investors were naturally going to readjust the pricing of risk in the wake of the December’s interest-rate hike, said Kansas City Fed President Esther George, on Tuesday. “Monetary policy cannot respond to every blip in financial markets,” George said in a speech on the economic outlook at the Central Exchange in Kansas City. There has been no “substantial shift” in the outlook that would justify pausing further gradual rate hikes, she said. While there are risks to the economy from the energy sector, elevated inventories and the global economy, George discounted fears of a U.S. recession, saying the economic fundamentals remain strong and core inflation measures have recently picked up. George, one of the most hawkish of the regional Fed presidents, is a voting member of the committee this year.

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