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Oil futures rallied on Thursday after unconfirmed reports that the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and producers outside the cartel will meet in February to discuss a cut to production. Russia’s oil minister Alexander Novak said Saudi Arabia has suggested a 5% cut in oil production and that the size of the cuts are currently being discussed, according to Russian news agency Interfax. Crude oil futures jumped to as high as $34.82 immediately after the report, and were up 5.1% at $33.93 a barrel at the latest. Brent jumped 5.2% to $35.70 barrel.

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U.S. stocks opened sharply higher on Thursday, as oil prices surged on chatter that Russia and OPEC may cut output. Shares of Facebook Inc. surged on the back of a well-received earnings report, helping lift the Nasdaq composite. The S&P 500 opened 17 points, or 0.9%, higher at 1,900, with the energy sector leading the gains, up 3%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 120 points, or 0.8%, to 16,060. Meanwhile, the Nasdaq Composite began the day up 60 points, or 1.4%, at 4,530.

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HCA Holdings Inc.’s stock surged 6.7% in premarket trade Thursday, after the hospital operator beat fourth-quarter revenue expectations and provided an upbeat 2016 outlook. Earnings for the latest quarter rose to $582 million, or $1.40 a share, from $527 million, or $1.19 a share, in the same period a year ago. The latest results include losses on asset sales and debt retirement and legal claims. The FactSet earnings-per-share consensus was $1.40. Revenue rose to $10.25 billion from $9.64 billion, beating the FactSet consensus of $10.16 billion. For 2016, the company expects adjusted EPS of $6 to $6.45, above the FactSet consensus of $5.78. Revenue is expected to be $41.5 billion to $42.5 billion, compared with the FactSet consensus of $41.52 billion. The stock had lost 2.2% over the past three months through Wednesday, while the S&P 500 has dropped 9.9%.

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The big surge in Facebook Inc.’s stock in premarket trade Thursday, has helped light a fire under the other recently-beaten down FANG stocks. Facebook shares soared 15% ahead of the open, putting them on track to open at a 2 1/2-month high, after the social network reported late Wednesday fourth-quarter profit and sales that beat expectations. Before Facebook reported, the stock has lost 9.8% year to date, while the S&P 500 had slipped 7.9%. Going in order of the acronym, Shares of Amazon.com Inc. , which is slated to report fourth-quarter results after Thursday’s closing bell, jumped 3.6% in premarket trade. They had tumbled 14% year to date through Wednesday. Netflix Inc.’s stock ran up 2.5% and shares of Google parent Alphabet Inc. climbed 2.7%. Through Wednesday, shares of Netflix had tumbled 20% year to date and of Alphabet slumped 7.8%.

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Rite Aid Corp. said same-store sales for the four weeks ending Jan. 23 were down 1.4% from the same period last year.January front-end same-store sales were down 1.9%, while the prescription count was down 1%. Prescriptions sales totaled 70.5% of drugstore sales and third-party prescription sales were 97.7% of pharmacy sales. Drugstore sales for the month were down 1.3% to $2 billion from $2.03 billion last year. Same-store sales for the47 weeks ending Jan. 23 2016 were up 1.5%, with front-end same-store sales up 0.3% and pharmacy same-store sales up 2%. Same-store sales based on prescription count were up 0.4%. Drugstore sales for the period were up 1.4% to $24.1 billion versus $23.8 billion for the year earlier period. Prescription sales were 69.1% of drugstore sales and third-party prescription sales were 97.8% of pharmacy sales. Rite Aid shares are down 0.7% in premarket trading, and down 4.1% for the past three months. The S&P 500 is down 9.9% for the past three months.

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WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) — Orders for durable, or long-lasting, goods fell 5.1% in December, the Commerce Department said Thursday. The drop came after a 12.4% plunge in transportation orders and was worse than the 1.5% forecasted decline in the headline. Excluding transportation, orders fell 1.2% in December. So-called core capital-goods orders fell 4.3%.

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Shares of Caterpillar Inc. were up 4% in pre-market trade Thursday after the company beat fourth-quarter earnings expectations, but missed on sales. Caterpillar reported a net loss of $87 million, or a loss of 15 cents per share, compared to a net income of $757 million, or $1.23 a share, in the year-earlier period. It reported adjusted earnings per share of 74 cents, above the FactSet consensus of 69 cents. Caterpillar reported sales of $11.03 billion, below $14.2 billion in the year-earlier period and below the FactSet consensus of $11.4 billion. “Cost management, restructuring actions and operational execution are helping the company while sales and revenues remain under pressure from weak commodity prices and slowing economic growth in developing countries,” said Doug Oberhelman, CEO of Caterpillar. For 2016, Caterpillar said it expects sales in the range of $40 to $44 billion and earnings of $3.50 per share. The FactSet consensus was for sales of $43.3 billion and earnings of $3.50.

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Altria Group Inc. said on Thursday it had net income of $1.25 billion, 64 cents per share during the fourth quarter, up from $1.24 billion, or 63 cents a share in the year-earlier period. Adjusted earnings per share were 67 cents, just below the FactSet consensus of 68 cents. The company said net revenue hit $6.32 billion, up from $6.26 billion a year ago. Revenue net of excise taxes was $4.7 billion. The FactSet consensus on revenue was $4.74 billion. Altria shares were trending up in premarket trade.

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Hershey Co. said it had net income of $213.4 billion, or 98 cents per share, in the fourth-quarter of 2015, up from $202.5 billion, or 91 cents per share, for the same period last year. The adjusted earnings per share were $1.08 against a FactSet consensus of $1.05. Sales for the quarter were down 5% to $1.91 billion versus $2.01 billion last year. The FactSet consensus was $1.97 billion. The company has approved an additional $500 million stock buyback program, to begin after the current program is complete. Hershey sees 2016 earnings per share between $4.18 and $4.23 up from 2015 earnings per share of $2.32, and revenue growth of 2% from $7.39 billion in 2015. Hershey shares aren’t yet active in premarket trading, but are down 21.6% for the past 12 months compared with a 6% decline for the S&P 500.

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From:: Stock Market News