Tag: stock market

Advanced Micro Devices Inc.’s stock shot up 6.7% to a 6 1/2-year high in active morning trade Thursday, after reports that Bank of America swung to bullish from bearish. Volume already topped 30 million shares, more than half the full-day average and enough to make the stock the third-most actively traded on major U.S. exchanges. The chip maker was upgraded to buy from underperform at BofA, the WSJ reported. The stock has run up 46% in the month since the election, compared with a 7.9% gain in the PHLX Semiconductor Index and a 4.7% rise in the S&P 500 . Over the past year, AMD shares have rocketed more than four-fold.

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Shares of Fitbit Inc. fell 2% on Thursday after the stock was downgraded to neutral from hold at Deutsche Bank on concerns about slower growth across the entire wearables industry. Analyst Sherri Scribner, who has a $9 price target on the stock, said the downgrade reflected slower-than-expected adoption of wearables and a deceleration in demand for Fitbit products. “We continue to view Fitbit as a leader in the weareable fitness category, but given consumer demand appears to be waning for wearable devices, we are taking a wait-and-see approach,” said Scribner. This comes three days after industry tracker IDC reported a 3% increase in third-quarter wearable shipments, which marked a significant deceleration from 67% and 26% in the first and second quarters, respectively. The report also showed a near halving of Apple Inc.’s share of the smartwatch category. Shares of Fitbit traded down around $7.82 in late-morning trade. They’re down 47% in the past three months and 76% in the past year. The S&P 500 , by comparison, is up 3% in the past three months and 9% in the past year.

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U.S. stocks opened flat on Thursday, with the S&P 500 index, Nasdaq Composite index and Dow Jones Industrial Average trading just shy of all-time highs, after the European Central Bank said it would decrease its monthly bond purchases beginning in April. The S&P 500 fell three points, or 0.1%, to 2,238, while the Dow was flat at 19,541. The Nasdaq was little-changed at 5,392. Meanwhile, rising crude oil prices helped lift energy shares.

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Shares of Hovnanian Enterprises Inc. surged 2.1% in premarket trade Thursday, after the homebuilder reported fiscal fourth-quarter earnings exceeded expectations, the first profit beat in four quarters. Earnings for the quarter to Oct. 31 fell to $22.3 million, or 14 cents a share, from $25.5 million, or 16 cents a share, in the same period a year ago. The FactSet consensus for earnings per share was 13 cents. Total revenue rose to $805.1 million from $693.2 million. The FactSet sales consensus was $847 million. The number of net contracts fell 15.4% to 1,299 homes, while the dollar value of net contracts fell 14.5% to $534.3 million. Separately, the company said that after paying off $320 million of debt over the last year, total liquidity was $346.6 million at the end of October. “The debt markets remained closed to companies with our credit ratings and we needed to raise funds to pay off $260 million of maturing public debt,” said Chief Executive Ara Hovnanian. “However, we ended the year with a liquidity position of $347 million, allowing us to once again actively seek land investment opportunities, which should ultimately result in community count growth and, assuming no change in market conditions, higher levels of profitability in the future.” The stock has soared 35% year to date through Wednesday, while the iShares U.S. Home Construction ETF has gained 5.4% and the S&P 500 has climbed 9.7%.

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Libbey Inc. said Thursday that Chief Financial Officer Sherry Buck will leave the company at the end of the year after 4 1/2 years in the role. Buck is leaving to pursue another professional opportunity at an undisclosed company. The glass tableware maker said Corporate Controller Ronni Smith will assume Buck’s duties until a a permanent successor is found. Smith has been controller since 2012, and has been with the company since May 2006. The stock, which was still inactive in premarket trade, has dropped 9.9% year to date, while the S&P 500 has gained 9.7%.

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The European Central Bank will begin to taper the amount of monthly bond purchases it makes starting in April 2017, policy makers said Thursday. The central bank said it will buy €60 billion in bonds each month until the end of December 2017, “or beyond, if necessary, and in any case until the Governing Council sees a sustained adjustment in the path of inflation consistent with its inflation aim.” The ECB’s targets inflation of near 2%. If “the outlook becomes less favorable or if financial conditions become inconsistent with further progress towards a sustained adjustment of the path of inflation, the Governing Council intends to increase the program in terms of size and/or duration,” it said in a statement. The ECB currently buys €80 billion in bonds a month and will continue to do so until March 2017. The ECB kept interest rates unchanged, as widely expected, leaving the deposit rate at negative 0.4% and the refinancing rate at 0%. The ECB also said it’s changing some of the parameters of its Asset Purchase Program, which ECB President Mario Draghi will discuss at his news conference set for 1:30 p.m. London time, or 8:30 a.m. Eastern Time.

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The euro and European bond yields shot higher on Thursday after the European Central Bank left interest rates unchanged while announcing an extension of its bond-buying program. The shared currency spiked after the announcement, rising 0.7% to $1.0874, its highest level in three weeks. The yield on the German 10-year bund rose 8.8 basis points to 0.433%, its highest level since January. While the ECB said it would extend its massive bond buying program through the end of 2017, the central bank surprised investors by saying it would taper the program to 60 billion euros ($64 billion) a month, down from 80 billion euros ($86 billion) a month, beginning in April. Market strategists had expected the central bank to continue buying 80 billion euros in public and private debt a month for most of 2017. The decision reflects a batch of sanguine economic data out of the eurozone released in recent months, including signs that growth and inflation are finally beginning to accelerate. It also reflects concerns that the central bank is running out of bonds to buy that fit its criteria for eligibility.

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Shares of Voyager Therapeutics Inc. rocketed 35% toward an 11-month high in premarket trade Thursday, after the company reported positive results from an early-stage trial of its treatment for Parkinson’s disease. That puts the shares on course to post the biggest one-day gain since they went public on Nov. 11, 2015, at an initial public offering price of $14. The company said late Wednesday that results from a Phase 1b trial showed that escalating doses of VY-AADC01 were well tolerated and produced “clinically meaningful improvements in various measures of patients’ motor function.” The company said it continues to enroll patients in another study, and remains on track to report six-month data in mid 2017. The stock had tumbled 37% year to date through Wednesday, while the S&P 500 has gained 9.7%.

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Horizon Pharma plc shares tumbled 22% in premarket trade Thursday, after the company said it is discontinuing a late-stage trial of a treatment for Friedreich’s ataxia after it failed to meet its goals. The company said the Phase 3 trial of Actimmune as a treatment for the debilitating, degenerative neuro-muscular disorder failed to meet its primary and secondary endpoints. The results “were not what we hoped for,” Horizon Chief Executive Timothy Walbert said in a statement. The company is not expecting the results to impact its full-year sales or adjusted EBITDA guidance, he said. The company will continue to work with the Friedreich’s Ataxia Research Alliance and the regulator to analyze the data to help shape future research. Friedreich’s ataxia affects about 4,000 to 6,000 people in the U.S. with symptoms that can start at age five and include progressive loss of strength that can lead to wheelchair use, poor vision, hearing and speech, among others. Horizon shares are down 11.5% in the year so far, while the S&P 500 has gained 9.7%.

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Universal Health Services Inc. responded Thursday’s to a BuzzFeed report that alleged the psychiatric hospital chain reaped profits at the expense of its patients. On Wednesday, the stock swung from a gain of about 1% to a loss of 12% in the final hour of trade after the BuzzFeed report was released. “We dispute and deny the conclusions drawn by the reporter in relation to UHS and believe that the story misses the mark in several important ways leading to an inaccurate portrayal of UHS’s behavioral health operations,” the company said in a statement. “The reporter seriously diminishes the complexity of behavioral health assessments and treatment necessary to properly care for the individual patient based upon their specific needs.” UHS’s stock was indicated up fractionally in premarket trade. It has lost 6.8% year to date through Wednesday, while the SPDR Health Care Select Sector ETF has shed 5.8% and the S&P 500 has run up 9.7%.

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