Tag: stock market

Retail job gains in October and November totaled 521,800, 14% fewer than the 604,300 retail jobs added during the period last year, according to data from Challenger, Gray & Christmas Inc. In November alone, retail employment grew by 371,500 but was 9.3% below last year, the lowest November increase since 2010. “As more and more shoppers move online, there is less need for extra workers in the brick-and-mortar stores,” said John Challenger, chief executive of Challenger, Gray & Christmas. In September, the group anticipated a shift towards hiring focused on e-commerce operations. Since then, retailers like Macys Inc. have said the holiday hiring will have a focus on online sales.

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From:: Stock Market News

U.S. stocks opened mostly lower on Monday, though the Dow Jones Industrial Average touched a new intraday record, as the blue-chip index struggled toward 20,000. The Dow gained 7 points, or 0.02%, to 19,769. The S&P 500 index fell 2 points, or 0.1%, to 2,258. The Nasdaq Composite Index shed 23 points, or 0.4%, to 5,420. Meanwhile, surging oil prices helped support energy shares. U.S.-traded crude futures rose nearly 5% in recent trade.

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Shares of Viacom Inc. fell more than 5% on Monday after CNBC reported Vice-Chair of the board, Shari Redstone, was withdrawing support to merge the media and entertainment company with CBS Corp. . The two companies split 11 years ago. Shares of CBS were down a little more than 1%. Viacom’s film and TV businesses have struggled as of late, as Redstone and former Chief Executive Philippe Dauman led a public battle for control of the company. Redstone won out and had planned to combine Viacom and CBS, which executives at the latter had been sternly against historically. Viacom shares are down more than 6% in the year to date, underperforming CBS, which is up nearly 33% and the S&P 500 Index, up more than 10%.

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Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc. shares rose 1.7% in Monday premarket trading after the fast-casual chain announced that founder Steve Ells will be named sole chief executive. Co-CEO Monty Moran has stepped down from his role, effective immediately, and will retire from Chipotle in 2017. Ells will remain chairman of Chipotle’s board. “Given the ongoing challenges facing the company, the board felt strongly that it was best for Steve to resume leadership of the company going forward,” Neil Flanzraich, lead director of the board, said in a statement. Operations have become “over-complicated,” Ells said in a statement. He plans to simplify operations and revamp the company’s employee incentive program in an effort to improve guest experience. Ells also announced a new company mission: “Ensure that better food, prepared from whole, unprocessed ingredients is accessible to everyone.” The previous mission was to “Change the way people think about and eat fast food.” Chipotle has been battling back from an illness outbreak that began late 2015. Shares are down 34.5% for the past 12 months while the S&P 500 index is up 12.3% for the same period.

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Shares of Lockheed Martin Corp. slumped 2.7% in premarket trade Monday, after President-elect Donald Trump called out the defense contractor, saying in tweet that the F-35 stealth fighter program’s cost is “out of control.” Trump said Monday that “billions of dollars can and will be saved on military (and other) purchases” after he is inaugurated on Jan. “20. In an interview on Fox News Sunday,” Trump repeated his doubts after the F-35 jet being built by Lockheed, adding that government procurement officials should be barred for life for working for defense contractors. Trump’s tweet about Lockheed follows a similar tweet about Boeing Co. last week, in which he said the order to build new Air Force One planes should be canceled because of spiraling costs. The company and the White House disputed Trump’s claims about the costs. Lockheed’s stock has run up 8.5% since the election through Friday, while the S&P 500 has gained 5.6%.

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Prudential Financial Inc. said Monday that it will suspend the distribution of its MyTerm insurance product through all Wells Fargo & Co. branches and website while it reviews the bank’s sale practices. The MyTerm product was launched in 2007, and is designed to give customers more choices and access to life insurance. The company had entered into a distribution agreement with Wells Fargo in June 2014. The suspension of the agreement follows Wells Fargo’s sales practice scandal earlier this year. “We stand behind the MyTerm product but have decided to suspend sales of that product through Wells Fargo’s retail banking franchise until we have all the facts about whether it is being distributed properly and in the best interest of customers,” said Steve Pelletier, chief operating officer of Prudential’s U.S. business. Prudential’s stock was little changed in premarket trade, while Wells Fargo’s tacked on 0.3%. Year to date, Prudential shares have climbed 30%, Wells Fargo’s stock has gained 5.1% and the S&P 500 has advanced 11%.

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Alexion Pharmaceuticals Inc. said both its chief executive and chief financial officer have left the company, as the previously-announced internal accounting investigation nears completion. The company said CEO David Hallal has resigned for personal reasons, and its CFO Vikas Sinha has left to pursue other opportunities. The company named board member David Brennan as interim-CEO, effective immediately, and David Anderson has joined the company to be CFO. The company said its audit and finance committee has not at this point identified any facts that would require a restatement of previous results. The company expects to file its quarterly report for the quarter ended Sept. 30 by January 2017. “With strong new leaders in place, we will continue to be relentlessly focused on serving patients and families with devastating and rare diseases,” said Chairman Leonard Bell. The stock, which is halted for news until 8:00 a.m. ET, has tumbled 31% year to date through Friday, while the S&P 500 has gained 11%.

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Shares of Ophthotech Corp. plunged 79% toward a record low in active premarket trade Monday, after the biopharmaceutical company said two phase 3 trials of its age-related vision loss treatment failed to meet their primary endpoints. “We are very disappointed in the results from these trials, particularly for patients afflicted with wet [age-related macular degeneration],” said Chief Executivew David R. Guyer. “We will continue to analyze the data from these two studies to better understand the trial results.” The stock traded at $7.95 ahead of the open, on volume of about 200,000 shares. The regular-session all-time intraday low for the stock, which went public at $22 a share in September 2013, was $22.61 in Nov. 18, 2013. The stock had tumbled 51% year to date through Friday, while the iShares Nasdaq Biotechnology ETF had lost 20% and the S&P 500 had gained 11%.

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Newell Brands Inc. announced Monday a deal to buy New Zealand’s Sistema, a provider of food storage containers, for the equivalent of $470 million. The consumer goods company also said it was buying home fragrance company Smith Mountain Industries, which owns the WoodWick Candle brand, for $100 million. Newell said it will fund both acquisitions with cash on hand, and will not use the proceeds from the planned divestitures to pay for the deals. The Sistema deal is expected to close in the second quarter of 2017 and the WoodWick Candle deal is expected to close in the first quarter. Newell’s stock, which was still inactive in premarket trade, has gained 3.3% year to date, while the S&P 500 has climbed 11%.

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Embattled Italian lender Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena SpA is making a last-ditch effort to raise 5 billion euros by the end of the year to stay afloat and avoid being bailed out by the Italian government. In a statement late Sunday, the bank said it will seek new private capital by reopening a debt-to-equity swap offer after receiving regulatory authorization, according to media reports. The bank last week made an offer to bondholders to swap €4.3 billion worth of subordinated into shares, but only raised €1 billion through the offering. The bank is racing to raise €5 billion by the end of the year after the European Central Bank rejected BMPS’s request for more time to complete its recapitalization plan. Monte dei Paschi shares jumped 6.9% in early European trade on Monday.

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