What’s new

Penumbra Inc. , which designs and markets devices for the treatment of strokes and other vascular conditions, priced its initial public offering at $30 a share, according to Renaissance Capital. The company sold 4 million shares, valuing it at about $1 billion. The IPO had been expected to price in a range between $25 a share to $28 a share. The Alameda, Calif., company plans to list on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol PEN.

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

Texas Instruments Inc. said Thursday it would increase its quarterly dividend by 12% to 38 cents a share from 34 cents a share, payable Nov. 16 to stockholders of record on Oct. 30. The company’s board of directors also authorized a $7.5 billion share buyback, which is in addition to about $1.8 billion of previously authorized repurchases that remained at the end of June. Shares of Texas Instruments rose 1.1% in late trading Thursday after ending the regular session down 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

AK Steel Holding Corp. shares jumped in the extended session Thursday after the steel producer issued a better-than-expected outlook for the third quarter. AK Steel shares rallied 8.2% to $3.04. The company said it expects a loss of 2 cents to 7 cents a share for the third quarter. Analysts surveyed by FactSet had estimated a loss of 24 cents a share for the quarter.

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

La Quinta Holdings Inc. said late Thursday its financial chief will serve as an interim chief executive. The hotel chain operator said CEO Wayne Goldberg agreed to step down, and that Chief Financial Officer Keith Cline will serve as president and CEO, effective immediately, until a more permanent replacement can be found. La Quinta shares declined 2.6% to $18.47 in after-hours activity.

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

Shares of Adobe Systems Inc. climbed in Thursday’s extended trade after the software company reported stronger-than-expected quarterly results. Adobe said its fiscal third-quarter earnings rose to $174.5 million, or 34 cents a share, from $44.7 million, or 9 cents a share, a year earlier. Excluding items, the maker of Photoshop, Illustrator design software and PDF would have earned 54 cents a share, ahead of the 50 cents a share forecast by analysts in a FactSet survey. Revenue grew to 21% $1.22 billion. Adobe gained 1.5% to $81.31 a share in after-hours session.

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 whipsawed throughout the day but closed lower on Thursday after the Federal Reserve left interest rates unchanged. The main indexes initially surged, but gradually gave up gains as the central bank’s Chairwoman Janet Yellen explained the Fed’s moves at the press conference. The S&P 500 fell 5.11 points, or 0.3%, to 1,990.20. The Dow Jones Industrial Average jumped as high as 190 points, but closed 65.21 points, or 0.4%, lower at 16,674.74. The Nasdaq Composite ended the day slightly higher, up 4.71 points, or 0.1% at 4,893.95.

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

Several emerging-markets currencies, including the Mexican peso, Malaysian ringgit and Korean won, traded higher than the dollar after Federal Reserve policy makers left interest rates unchanged Thursday. Meanwhile, the currencies of risky emerging-markets, including the Turkish lira and Brazilian real , traded lower. The peso traded at 16.50, up 0.2% in recent trade from 16.54 late Wednesday in New York. The Malaysian ringgit traded at 4.2 to the dollar, up 0.2% on the day from 4.25 to the dollar late Wednesday. The Korean won traded at 1,165.45 won to the dollar, up 0.5% from 1,171.65 won. The real traded at 3.86, down 0.9% from 3.83 late Thursday. The “more fragile” among the EM currencies suffered even though the Fed abstained from raising rates because “the uncertainty [around rates] we’ve been living with is still there,” said Lee Ferridge, head of macro strategy for North America, at State Street Global Advisors.

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. demand of oil and refined products rose to their highest August level in five years, according to a monthly report from the American Petroleum Institute released Thursday. Total petroleum deliveries, which offer a measure of demand, rose 0.8% in August from the same time a year ago, to average almost 19.6 million barrels a day, the API said. Crude-oil production, meanwhile, averaged 9.3 million barrels a day in August, That’s up 5.4% from August 2014. On the New York Mercantile Exchange, October crude settled Thursday at $46.90 a barrel, down 25 cents, or 0.5%.

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

The SPDR Utilities ETF surged 2.3% in active afternoon trade, with nine of the 10 of the most-heavily weighted components rising more 2%. The XLU, which has the highest dividend yield–3.6%–among the sector ETFs tracking the S&P 500’s 10 sectors, was up 0.7% just before the Federal Reserve said it would stand pat on interest rates. Among the XLU’s top holdings, shares of Duke Energy Corp. climbed 2.2%, PG&E Corp. rallied 3.3% and Exelon Corp. rose 2.4%. The only Top 10 holding not rising 2% was Dominion Resources Inc.’s stock , which gained just 1.8%. Higher-yield sectors tend to be more attractive to investors during low rate environments.

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

The regional bank sector took the news of no interest rate increase pretty hard. The SPDR S&P Regional Bank ETF flipped from a gain of about 0.5% to a loss of as much as 1.6% after Federal Reserve said it was standing pat, before bouncing slightly. The ETF was last down 1.1%. It’s still up 1.4% so far this month, but has lost 5.8% over the last three months, while the S&P 500 has slipped 4.7%. Among the ETF’s most heavily-weighted components, shares of National Penn Bancshares Inc. fell 1%, Sterling Bancorp shed 0.8% and Great Western Bancorp Inc. dropped 2.4%. 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.

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