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Oil prices held onto modest gains after data from Baker Hughes showed that the number of active U.S. oil-drilling rigs fell by 20 to 516 as of Friday. The total active U.S. rig count, which includes natural-gas rigs, was down 34 at 664. Compared to last year, the total rig count has fallen by 1,086, while the oil rig count is down 905. February crude was at $33.29 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, up 3 cents, or 0.1%. It was at $33.42 before the data.

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WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) – The U.S. central bank’s baseline projection of four rate hikes in 2016 is more like a “gentle ascension” rather than rocket “shooting straight up,” said San Francisco Fed President John Williams, on Friday. In a speech to the California Bankers Association in Santa Barbara, Williams said the expected path is about half the pace of the last tightening cycle, and means it will take three years before the target federal funds rate hits “our cruising altitude.” Investors are only pricing in two rate hikes this year. The San Francisco Fed president, who is not a voting member this year but is seen an a member of Fed Chairwoman Janet Yellen’s inner circle, said the central bank plans to shrink its balance sheet “organically” through maturation of assets rather than outright sales. This means it will take at least six years to shrink the balance sheet back to normal, he said.

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WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) – The economic team at Barclays on Friday cut its tracking estimate of U.S. fourth-quarter gross domestic product to an 0.7% annual rate from 1.1% after November wholesale trade data fell more than expected. The Commerce Department reported inventories fell 0.3% in November, and also sharply revised down the prior estimate of October’s inventory decline to 0.3% from 0.1%. Barclays said the change in private inventories likely subtracted 0.9 percentage points from fourth-quarter growth. The U.S. economy grew at a 2% rate in the third quarter.

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Toys R Us reported holiday season same-store sales rose 2% for the nine weeks ending Jan 2. Same-store sales were up 1.4% domestically for the period. For the five weeks ending Jan. 2, same-store sales in the U.S. were up 2.9%. Online sales were a highlight, the company said in a release, with toy, learning and seasonal categories generating the strongest growth. This strength was offset by a decline in the entertainment category, which includes electronics, video game hardware and software. Internationally, same-store sales were up 3.1% for the nine weeks ending Jan. 2, led by Canada and Japan. The company reported some weakness in Europe. Toys R Us is a private equity-owned company.

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U.S. stocks opened higher on Friday, rebounding from heavy losses over the previous two sessions. The impact of the stronger-than-expected monthly jobs report was muted, however. The main indexes were still looking to book steep weekly losses. The S&P 500 opened 10 points, or 0.5%, higher at 1,952. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 80 points, or 0.5%, to 16,599. Meanwhile, the Nasdaq Composite began the day up 40 points, or 0.8%, at 4,730.

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Acuity Brands Inc. , a lighting and energy management company, said it had net income of $68.4 million, or $1.57 per share, in the first quarter 2016, up from $51.1 million, or $1.17 per share for the same period last year. Adjusted earnings were $1.65 per share. The FactSet consensus was $1.58 per share. Sales totaled $736.6 million, up from $647.4 million the year prior. The FactSet consensus was $740 million. Adjusted results exclude the impact of adjustments and stock-based compensation related to the acquisition of Distech Controls. Management believes this impacts the comparability of the results, the company said in a statement. Acuity completed the acquisitions of lighting company Juno and software company Geometri after the close of the first quarter. Shares of Acuity are up 57.6% for the past 12 months while the S&P is down 5.8%.

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The dollar surged against its main rivals Friday after official data showed U.S. jobs growth in December was much stronger than economists expected. The dollar jumped to 118.74 yen after the data, up from 117.74 late Thursday. The euro sunk to $1.0823, down from $1.0917. The pound sunk to $1.4589, from $1.4613. The U.S. economy added 292,000 new jobs in December, surpassing a consensus estimate of 215,000 new nonfarm jobs from a survey of economists conducted by MarketWatch, while jobs growth in November and October was revised higher. “[The report] kind of backs up what the Fed was thinking was going to happen, so they probably feel pretty justified for raising rates [in December],” said John Doyle, director of markets at Tempus Inc. “Today’s print probably helps the odds of a March increase, but our position is that [the Fed] won’t raise rates four times this year.”

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From:: Stock Market News