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Zynga shares shot up 10% to $4.05 in early afternoon trading Wednesday. If Zynga stock hangs on to the gains and closes above $4, it will be the first time since 2014. The San Francisco-based company has beat analyst estimates for 11 straight quarters, according to FactSet. Investors propelled shares above $4 after the company announced third-quarter earnings after the bell Tuesday. Executives reported net income of $18.1 million on sales of $224.6 million. The company also announced that it was acquiring Peak Games, a developer that specializes in mobile card games. Zynga shares have gained 57% this year, with the S&P 500 index rising 15%.

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Capital One Financial Corp. shares fell 1% in afternoon trade Wednesday, after reports that the credit card and consumer-banking services company was exiting the mortgage-loan business, cutting about 1,000 jobs. The Dallas Business Journal reported late Tuesday that Capital One was planning to lay off 950 employees from its campus in Plano, Texas in the coming months, citing a spokesperson that said the company wasn’t in a position to be both competitive and profitable. Reuters reported Wednesday the company will cut about 1,100 jobs, citing a challenging interest-rate environment. The company didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. The stock has gained 2.3% year to date, while the SPDR Financial Select Sector ETF has rallied 13% and the S&P 500 has gained 16%.

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Container Store Group Inc. shares have skyrocketed 28% in Thursday trading after the company reported fiscal second-quarter earnings beat expectations and the company raised its outlook. The company reported a net loss of $875,000, or 2 cents per share, compared with income of $3.54 million, or 7 cents per share, for the same period last year. Adjusted EPS was 12 cents, doubling the 6-cents FactSet consensus. Revenue totaled $218.4 million, up from $205.1 million and ahead of the $217.0 million FactSet estimate. Same-store sales rose 1.9% for the quarter, beating the FactSet consensus for 0.3% growth. The company also raised its outlook for fiscal 2017, now forecasting sales of $845.0 million to $865.0 million, EPS of 11-to-22 cents, and adjusted EPS of 30-to-41 cents. The previous outlook was for sales of $830.0 million to $850.0 million, EPS of 13-to-23 cents, and adjusted EPS of 27-to-40 cents. The FactSet estimate is for sales of $854.6 million, and EPS of 36 cents. Same-store sales are expected to be between a 1% decline and a 1% increase, up from the prior outlook for a decrease in the low-single-digit range. The FactSet consensus is for a 0.4% increase. Container Store sharse are up 8% for the last three months, but down 22.8% for the year so far. The S&P 500 index is up 15.8% for 2017 to date.

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.

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Oil prices took a sudden turn higher Wednesday, after falling in the immediate wake of a U.S. government report, which showed a surprise weekly rise in crude stockpiles and a climb in total domestic crude production. But the report also revealed bigger-than-expected declines in supplies of gasoline and distillate stockpiles. “The product stock draws are bullish despite the crude build,” said Troy Vincent, oil analyst at ClipperData. He also pointed out new reports of a fire that broke out on Shell’s Enchilada oil platform, prompting its shutdown early Wednesday. A climb in December gasoline of 2.1 cents, or 1.2%, to $1.837 a gallon led oil prices higher. December West Texas Intermediate crude added 62 cents, or 1.1%, to trade at $57.81 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

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Apple Inc. is the first publicly traded U.S. company to reach a $900 billion market capitalization. The iPhone maker passed the mark for the first time in intraday trade Wednesday, after approaching the mark following an earnings report last week that showed optimism about the iPhone X launch and a recovery in many of Apple’s other businesses. Apple is by far the most valuable publicly traded U.S. company, as no other businesses have a market cap exceeding $800 billion – Alphabet Inc. surpassed $700 billion for the first time last month, becoming the second company after Apple to accomplish that. Apple shares reached a new intraday record high of $175.50 to accomplish the feat, and must close higher than $175.29 to keep the $900 billion mark. Apple stock has gained more than 50% this year, while the S&P 500 index has gained 15.7% and the Dow Jones industrial average , which counts Apple as a component, has added 19.1%

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iHeartMedia Inc. , the biggest operator of radio stations in the U.S., has repeated “going concern” language in its latest filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The company, which also owns billboard ad company Clear Channel Outdoors, is currently in talks with lenders to restructure and refinance the massive $20 billion debt burden it took on as part of a $24 billion leveraged buyout by then-Clear Channel Communications Inc. by private-equity firms Bain Capital and Thomas H. Lee Partners in 2008. At the end of September, the company had debt maturities totaling $366.9 million, $308.5 million $8.4 billion in 2017, 2018 and 2019, respectively. To meet those obligations, the company needs to meet forecasted results, conserve cash, complete note and term loan exchange offers, refinance other credit facilities and generate additional liquidity, it said in its 10-Q filing. Based on the uncertainty of achieving those goals and others, “management has determined that there is substantial doubt as to the Company’s ability to continue as a going concern for a period of 12 months following November 8, 2017,” said the filing. The company’s most active bonds, the 9.000% notes that mature in March of 2021, were last quoted at 68.75 cents on the dollar to yield 22.968%, deep into distressed territory. Shares were down 2.3% at $1.25.

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Three of the four stocks that are due to start trading Wednesday after pricing their initial public offerings took off to a strong start. Four Seasons Education (Cayman), a Chinese tutoring company with an emphasis on math, jumped more than 2% in the opening minutes of trade. The company sold 10.1 million shares at $10 to raise $101 million. The shares are trading on the NYSE under the ticker symbol “FEDU.” Shares of Texan regional bank CBTX Inc. shares surged 6.9% in early trade. The bank priced its IPO at $26, the high end of its $24 to $26 range. Shares are trading on Nasdaq under the ticker symbol “CBTX.” Manhattan bank Metropolitan Bank Holding Corp. rose 9% in early trade. The company priced its IPO at $35, above its $31 to $34 range. Shares are trading on the NYSE under the symbol “MCB”. German biotech InflaRx N.V. had not yet started trading. That company priced its IPO at $15, the midpoint of its $14 to $16 range. The S&P 500 was down 0.2% Wednesday.

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Data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration Wednesday showed that domestic crude supplies rose by 2.2 million barrels for the week ended Nov. 3. That was contrary to the forecast for a decline of 2.7 million barrels from analysts surveyed by S&P Global Platts. The American Petroleum Institute on Tuesday reported a nearly 1.6 million-barrel decline. Gasoline stockpiles fell by 3.3 million barrels for the week, while distillate stockpiles shed 3.4 million barrels, according to the EIA. The S&P Global Platts survey forecast supply declines of 2.25 million barrels for gasoline and 1.85 million barrels for distillates. December crude was down 63 cents, or 1.1%, from Tuesday to $56.57 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. It traded at $56.86 before the supply 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.

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From:: Stock Market News