Tag: stock market

The Senate passed a bill late Friday night to fund the government through April 28, acting just shortly before the government was due to partially shut down. The House approved the measure on Thursday and it now goes to President Barack Obama for signature. The funding bill was held up by Democrats’ efforts to get a longer extension of miners’ health-care benefits. But lawmakers said they wouldn’t shut down the government over the issue and vowed to press it next year. The vote was 63-36.

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From:: Stock Market News

The Senate passed a bill late Friday night to fund the government through April 28, acting just shortly before the government was due to partially shut down. The House approved the measure on Thursday and it now goes to President Barack Obama for signature. The funding bill was held up by Democrats’ efforts to get a longer extension of miners’ health-care benefits. But lawmakers said they wouldn’t shut down the government over the issue and vowed to press it next year. The vote was 63-36.

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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The Senate appeared poised Friday night to vote for a stopgap spending bill that would head off a government shutdown at midnight. The House approved the measure, which funds government operations through April 28, on Thursday. Senators including Joe Manchin, a West Virginia Democrat, had sought a longer extension of miners’ benefits than is included in the House bill. “We are not going to shut down the government over this issue,” said Sen. Mark Warner of Virginia, a Democrat. Votes are expected later Friday night.

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President-elect Donald Trump’s transition team said Friday that former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani had taken himself out of the running for “a position in the new administration.” Giuliani was reportedly under consideration for secretary of state. The Wall Street Journal reported, meanwhile, that Exxon CEO Rex Tillerson has emerged as the top candidate to lead the State Department.

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Stocks finished at records Friday as consumer sentiment surged and markets continued their Trump-inspired rally. The Dow Jones Industrial Index finished up 142.04 points, or 0.7%, at 19,756.85, for a weekly gain of 3.1%, the blue-chip average’s fifth week of consecutive gains. The S&P 500 index gained 13.34 points, or 0.6%, to finish at 2,259.53, led by the health-care and consumer-staples sectors, for a weekly gain of 3.1%. The Nasdaq Composite index closed up 27.14 points, or 0.5%, at 5,444.50, for a weekly gain of 3.6%.

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Oil futures settled higher Friday, with major oil producers set to meet this weekend with plans to shore up their recent decision to cut back output. For the week, however, prices lost about 0.4% as some doubts lingered that producers outside of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries will fully support the agreement. January West Texas Intermediate crude rose 66 cents, or 1.3%, to settle at $51.50 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

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Gold futures settled Friday at their lowest level since February, posting a weekly loss for a fifth straight week amid expectations that the Federal Reserve will raise interest rates at its meeting next week. February gold lost $10.50, or 0.9%, for the session to settle at $1,161.90 an ounce-the lowest finish since early February, according to FactSet data. For the week, prices declined by roughly 1.1%.

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Data from Baker Hughes Friday revealed that the number of active U.S. rigs drilling for oil climbed by 21 to 498 rigs this week. That’s the highest level since January, according to Citi Futures’ Tim Evans. The total active U.S. rig count, which includes oil and natural-gas rigs, also jumped by 27 to 624, according to Baker Hughes. “It looks like the OPEC deal, as well as the end of the year, is inspiring the drillers to get cracking,” said Phil Flynn, senior market analyst at Price Futures Group. He also pointed out that “some drillers may have to start drilling before the end of the year to keep leases.” Prices for oil appeared unfazed by the rig data, with January crude holding onto its gains, trading at $51.43 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, up 59 cents, or 1.2%.

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Corn futures edged lower Friday, falling back further from the five-month high they hit earlier this week. The U.S. Department of Agriculture left its forecast on U.S. corn production unchanged for the 2016/2017 crop year at 386.75 million metric tons and raised its world output projection by more than 9 million metric tons to 1.0397 billion metric tons. “Looks like plenty of grain inventories globally, which is what people will take away from this report,” Sal Gilbertie, president and chief investment officer at Teucrium Trading, said about the USDA’s World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates report. “There is once again record global demand for grains and nearly all the major crops covered in this report,” he said. But “the world has become reliant on record production to meet record demand.” March corn was down 0.2% at $3.53 a bushel in Chicago. It settled at over $3.60 a bushel on Tuesday, which was its highest level since mid-July.

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General Electric Co. said Friday that it raised its quarterly dividend by 4.3% to 24 cents a share from 23 cents a share. The new dividend will be payable Jan. 25 to shareholders of record on Dec. 27. At the current stock price of $31.59, up 0.2%, the new annual dividend rate implies a dividend yield of 3.10%, compared with the aggregate dividend yield for the Dow Jones Industrial Average of 2.34%. “We have a disciplined capital allocation strategy with a plan to return approximately $30 billion of cash to shareholders this year,” said Chief Executive Jeff Immelt. “This dividend increase is in line with our multi-year capital allocation framework to have a dividend payout ratio of 45-50% and then grow the dividend in line with earnings.” The stock has gained 1.4% year to date, while the Dow has climbed 12.9%.

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