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The U.S. has withdrawn from the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, a State Department spokeswoman said Thursday. The decision “reflects U.S. concerns with mounting arrears” at the UN entity, as well as what she called “continuing anti-Israel bias.” The organization is known for its World Heritage program that protects cultural sites across the globe.

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Amazon.com Inc.’s Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Microsoft Corp. jointly unveiled Gluon, a new deep learning library which allows developers to build and deploy machine-learning models for the cloud and mobile apps. Gluon currently works with Apache MXNet and will support Microsoft’s cognitive toolkit. Gluon should make it easier for developers to build neural networks using simple, concise code. “The potential of machine learning can only be realized if it is accessible to all developers,” said Vice President of Amazon AI Swami Sivasubramanian. “Today’s reality is that building and training machine learning models requires a great deal of heavy lifting and specialized expertise.” Amazon’s stock has slipped 1.1% over the past three months and Microsoft’s shares have climbed 7.4%, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average has gained 6.2% and the S&P 500 has advanced 4.6%.

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Data firm Helios & Matheson Analysts Inc. said on Thursday that it is increasing its majority stake in movie-theater subscription service MoviePass. The company said that since announcing its initial acquisition Aug. 15, Helios & Matheson has received aggregate gross proceeds of about $12.8 million from the holder of its senior secured convertible notes, satisfying its $10 million financing condition in its pending majority ownership MoviePass acquisition. With that, Helios and Matheson is increasing the purchase price to $28.5 million from $27.0 million, which raises its stake to 53.71% from 53%. Shares of Helios & Matheson were down nearly 14% in premarket trade on Thursday, after nearly tripling in the past four sessions. MoviePass also gave Helios & Matheson an option to buy additional shares for $20 million in cash based on the company’s $210 million pre-money valuation. If the option is realized that will result in Helios & Matheson gaining an additional 8.7% stake in MoviePass. Helios & Matheson shares have gained nearly 897% in the year to date, while the S&P 500 index is up more than 14% and the Dow Jones Industrial Average is up nearly 16%.

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Citigroup on Thursday reported net income of $4.1 billion in the third quarter, or per-share earnings of $1.42, compared to $3.8 billion, or $1.24 per share, in the year-ago period. That beat the FactSet consensus of $1.32. The bank had revenue of $18.2 billion in the quarter, vs. $17.8 billion a year ago. Analysts surveyed by FactSet had forecast $17.9 billion. Global consumer banking revenue rose 3%, the bank said, and institutional client group revenue was up 9%, but corporate revenue tumbled 55%. “We had revenue increases in many of the products we have been investing in, tightly managed our expenses, and again saw loan growth in both our consumer and institutional businesses,” CEO Michael Corbat said in a release. The stock was up 0.6% in pre-market trading. Shares of Citi have gained 26.1% in the year to date, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average is up 15.7%.

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The stock of home goods retailer Williams-Sonoma Inc. was downgraded to underperform from neutral at Credit Suisse Thursday, with analysts saying margins will be pressured by the continuing rise in the costs of doing businesses. “While we appreciate recent efforts to reaccelerate sales, concerns include: 1) higher investments in marketing and e-commerce, supported by our web search analysis that highlights WSM’s significantly lower organic search results vs competitors, with just 2% “click share”, and suggests that spending may remain elevated; 2) pressure from lower shipping revenue, which we have started to see; 3) sales underperformance vs. industry,” analysts wrote in a note. The action comes after the stock has gained 18% from its August low, said the note. Shares were not yet active premarket, but have gained about 5% in 2017, while the S&P 500 has gained 14%.

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Domino’s Pizza Inc. reported Thursday third-quarter profit and sales that rose above expectation. Net income for increased to $56.4 million, or $1.18 a share, from $47.2 million, or 96 cents a share, in the same period a year ago. Excluding non-recurring items, such charges related to a recapitalization, adjusted earnings per share came to $1.27, which was above the FactSet consensus of $1.23. Revenue rose 14% to $643.6 million from $566.7 million, due primarily to higher supply-chain revenue and increased volume, to beat the FactSet consensus of $628.4 million. Domestic same-store sales rose 8.4% above last year, exceeding the FactSet consensus of 6.5% growth. The stock fell 2.4% in premarket trade. It had soared 31.4% year to date through Wednesday, while the S&P 500 had gained 14%.1%.

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Spark Therapeutics Inc. shares were halted Thursday as a U.S. Food and Drugs Administration advisory committee meets to review the company’s gene therapy treatment for patients with vision loss caused by biallelic RPE65-mediated inherited retinal disease, or IRD. IRD is a group of rare blinding conditions caused by one of more than 220 different genes, the company said. The diseases cause night blindness that can develop to include peripheral vision loss or tunnel vision, and can result in blindness. There are currently no treatments approved for the condition. The FDA committee meeting is set to start at 8.30 a.m. Eastern and will review the gene therapy Luxturna, which has received orphan drug, breakthrough therapy and rare pediatric disease designations from the agency. The treatment showed positive results in a Phase 3 trial, data from which were published in The Lancet. The committee’s ruling is non-binding, but is taken into consideration by the FDA when reviewing drug applications. Spark shares have gained 73% in 2017, while the S&P 500 has gained 14%.

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Amazon.com Inc. said that it plans to hire 120,000 people for the holiday season. Jobs will be added at its 75 fulfillment centers across the U.S. The online retailer said thousands of holiday positions added last year were converted into full-time jobs after the season and it expects that trend to continue this year. Shares were slightly higher premarket and have gained 33% in 2017, while the S&P 500 has gained 14%.

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Economies across the globe continue to strengthen and the American consumer is resilient, J.P.Morgan Chase Inc. said in a release Thursday. The country’s biggest bank reported earnings that beat Wall Street estimates, although some of its business lines which serve institutional investors were weaker during the quarter. The bank’s CEO, Jamie Dimon, said in a statement that the quarter marked the first time that the bank “led the nation in total U.S. deposits, as consumers and businesses continue to view us as their partner of choice.” The hurricanes that battered the U.S. had “impacted” many of the bank’s customers, Dimon said. J.P.Morgan’s consumer and business banking revenue was up 15% compared to a year ago in the quarter, and per-share earnings were 11% higher than the year-ago quarter. The stock was down about 0.9% in pre-market trading, but has gained 12.2% for the year to date, compared to a 15.7% gain for the Dow Jones Industrial Average .

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Nu Skin Enterprises Inc. raised its outlook Thursday for profit and sales, ahead of the beauty and wellness products company’s investor meeting. The company now expects third-quarter earnings per share of 74 cents to 76 cents, up from a previously provided guidance range of 71 cents to 76 cents. Revenue guidance was raised to $559 million to $563 million from $540 million to $560 million. The company said it will discuss its updated outlook, recent business trends and upcoming initiatives at its investor meeting beginning at 1:45 p.m. ET. The stock, which was inactive in premarket trade, has soared 31% year to date, while the S&P 500 had gained 14%.

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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