What’s new

Oil futures turned higher after data from Baker Hughes showed that the number of active U.S. oil-drilling rigs fell by 26 to 614 as of Friday. The total active U.S. rig count, which includes natural-gas rigs, was at 809, down 29 rigs. Compared to last year, the total rig count has fallen by 1,113, with the oil rig count down 977. Nov. crude was up 55 cents, or 1.2%, to $45.29 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. It was trading at $44.55 just before the data.

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

Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services on Friday upgraded Spain’s long-term sovereign credit rating to BBB plus from BBB, citing two rounds of labor market reforms. The ratings firm said its outlook on Spain’s rating is stable. Citing the benefits from two rounds of labor market reforms since 2010, S&P said, in a news release, that the upgrade reflects its view of “Spain’s strong, balanced economic performance over the past four years, which is gradually benefiting public finances.”

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

A selloff in Chinese stocks and jitters over the Federal Reserve’s interest-rate policy continued to chase investors away from emerging-market stocks with outflows in the third quarter hitting $39.73 billion for a year-to-date total redemption of $59.8 billion. “Overall redemptions from Emerging Markets Equity Funds hit levels last seen in [the] first quarter 2014 when the winding down of the Federal Reserve’s quantitative easing program, uncertainty about China’s economic trajectory and Ukraine’s unfolding civil war sapped investor confidence,” EPFR Global said in a report. Outflows from China stabilized in the third quarter, in part on government support for the stock market with the country witnessing a net inflow of $840 million. However, redemptions outpaced inflow with outflows in the first nine months of the year reaching $15.06 billion. The U.S. also posted an outflow of $35.2 billion in the third quarter as investors preferred European and Japanese stocks, EPFR said.

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

BOSTON(MarketWatch) – Adding financial stability as an explicit goal of U.S. interest-rate policy is likely to add to pubic uncertainty about U.S. interest-rate policy and the economy, said Narayana Kocherlakota, the president of the Minneapolis Fed, on Friday. Earlier at the same conference,Boston Fed President Eric Rosengren argued that financial stability should be an explicit goal for the U.S. central bank, and showed evidence in a paper that policymakers had been adjusting interest rates based on their concern for financial stability in the past. This argument of an unstated but existing goal is “disturbing,” Kocherlakota said. “Is it appropriate for a group of unelected officials to make up their own, relatively secret, objective for monetary policy? And how can this opaqueness in the formulation of policy be expected to lead to better policy outcomes?” Kocherlakota asked.

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

Ollie’s Bargain Outlet Holdings Inc. was upgraded to outperform from neutral at Credit Suisse. The firm cites Ollie’s second-quarter same-store sales results, up 7.8% for its first quarter as a public company, which beat the estimate consensus of 4.5%. Credit Suisse expects same-store sales to weaken over the remainder of the year because of the inherent volatility of closeout businesses. The market is aware of this volatility and management is “cautious” for this time period, the firm’s analysts said. “Ollie’s stores generate cash-on-cash returns of more than 50% and new stores average a payback period of under 2 years,” Credit Suisse wrote in a note, which places the company just below Dollar General Corp. and Sprouts Farmers Market Inc. in store-level returns among the firm’s “staples retail universe.” Ollie’s is in 16 states, so there’s room for growth as well. The company, which went public in July at a $16 IPO price, is down 6% over the past month. The S&P is down 2% for the same time.

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

WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) — Education Sec. Arne Duncan is going to step down after serving for seven years in the Obama administration, the Associated Press reported, citing a letter to staff from Duncan. Duncan will leave in December, and Obama is tapping Education Department official John King Jr. to act as acting secretary through the end of his term, the report says. But Obama is not nominating King to be secretary.

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

​WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) – Orders for goods produced in U.S. factories fell 1.7% in ​August​, the Commerce Department said ​Fri​day. Economists surveyed by MarketWatch had expected orders to ​drop 1.3%. Orders for durable goods — products meant to last at least three years — declined 2.3% in ​August​ Orders for nondurable goods fell by 1.1%.

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

Google Inc. was upgraded to outperform from perform at Oppenheimer on Friday. The brokerage also raised its 12 to 18-month price target to $700 from $670, which implies potential upside of 9% from Thursday’s closing price, though the analysts said the stock could get as high as $905. Oppenheimer cited accelerating YouTube usage, now growing at the fastest pace in more than two years, as well as new ad products that compete better with those offered by Facebook Inc. for the upgrade. Shares of Google fell 0.7%to $637.84 in early morning trade. They are up 16.5% over the last three months, versus an 8.5% decline for the broader S&P 500.

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

U.S. stocks opened sharply lower, with Dow industrials dropping more than 200 points as investors reacted to a disappointing jobs report that suggested the labor market had cooled off by the end of the summer. The U.S. economy created 142,000 jobs last month, while the economists had expected 200,000. The S&P 500 opened 24 points, or 1.2%, lower at 1,899. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 200 points, or 1.3%, to 16,068. The Nasdaq Composite began the day down 62 points, or 1.4%, at 4,566.

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

Bank stocks turned sharply lower in premarket trade Friday, as disappointing jobs data suggested the Federal Reserve may delay interest rate increases. The SPDR Financial ETF swung to a loss of 1.9%, after trading up 0.7% just prior to 8:30 a.m. ET, when the jobs data was released. Among some of the XLF’s more active components, shares of Bank of America Corp. shed 2.4% after being up 0.5% just before the data; Citigroup Inc. swung to a 2% decline from a 0.3% gain; J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. slumped 1.9%, after being up 0.5%; and Wells Fargo & Co. slid 2%, after trading up as much as 0.6%. Banks tend to benefit from rising interest rates because it increases the spread between the interest rate they charge on longer-term loans and the shorter-term rate they pay to fund those loans. Bank investors appear to be worried that the Fed may be wait a little longer to start raising rates, after September nonfarm payrolls grew by just 142,000, below expectations of 200,000.

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