The Vitamin Shoppe plans to expand in Paraguay

The Vitamin Shoppe will open its first franchise stores in Paraguay, the company announced Wednesday. The stores add on to three recently opened stores in Panama and Guatemala and bring the total international footprint to 16 franchise stores. Shares of Vitamin Shoppe have gained 9% in the past month, compared to the S&P 500’s gain of 4%.

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Fidelity National Information Services to sell public sector and education businesses for $850 mln

Fidelity National Information Services Inc. will sell its SunGard Public Sector and Education businesses to Vista Equity Partners for $850 million, the financial technology company said on Wednesday. Shares of Fidelity were inactive in premarket trade. The sale, which is expected to close in the 2017 first quarter, includes all of SunGard’s software addressing public safety and public administration needs of government entities as well as the needs of K-12 school districts. Under Vista the SunGard Public Sector business will become a new independent company, while the education business will become part of Vista-owned PowerSchool, according to a news release. Fidelity previously expected the Public Sector and Education businesses to contribute 15 cents to 16 cents to full-year 2017 adjusted earnings per share. The FactSet consensus on 2017 per-share earnings is $4.38. Shares of Fidelity are up more than 24% in the year to date, outperforming the S&P 500 Index , which is up more than 8%.

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Capstone Turbine to cut auditor, PR expenses

Capstone Turbine Corp. said Wednesday it has “substantially” cut its external audit and investor relations expenses as part of its plan to become profitable. The microturbine systems producer said it expects to save $600,000 in fiscal 2018 by changing its audit firm and by insourcing its investor relations function. The company aims to cut its breakeven revenue level to $100 million from $160 million and reduce expenses by 35%. The stock, which was still inactive in premarket trade, has tumbled 32% year to date, while the S&P 500 has gained 8.2%.

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Nu Skin CEO to leave; company provides downbeat sales outlook

Nu Skin Enterprises Inc. said Wednesday Chief Executive Truman Hunt will leave the company in mid 2017, after about 17-years in the role, to take a three-year leadership assignment with the Mormon church. The company said current Chief Financial Officer Ritch Wood will become CEO when Hunt leaves. A new CFO will be named before Wood takes the CEO role. Separately, the beauty and wellness products company said it now expects fourth-quarter earnings per share to be “near the high end” of the guidance provided a month ago of 77 cents to 81 cents, compared with the FactSet consensus of 79 cents. Revenue is now expected to be “near the low end” of its previous outlook of $550 million to $570 million, compared with the FactSet consensus of $579 million. For 2017, Nu Skin expects revenue of $2.26 billion to $2.30 billion and EPS of $3.10 to $3.25, compared with the FactSet revenue consensus of $2.37 billion and EPS consensus of $3.35. The stock, which was still inactive in premarket trade, has run up 36% year to date, while the S&P 500 has gained 8.2%.

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Southwest November traffic growth outpaces supply increase

Southwest Airlines Co. reported Wednesday a jump in a key airline metric for November, as traffic growth outpaced an increase in capacity. Load factor increased 1.8 percentage points to 85.1% from 83.3% a year ago, as traffic grew 7.2% to 10.4 billion revenue passenger miles and capacity rose 4.9% to 12.3 billion available seat miles. The air carrier now expects fourth-quarter revenue per available seat mile to decline in the 4.0% to 5.0% range. The stock, which was still inactive in premarket trade, has climbed 11% year to date, while the NYSE Arca Airline Index has run up 24% and the S&P 500 has gained 8.2%.

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J.P. Morgan, other banks slapped with EU fines totaling $520 mln

European Union regulators on Wednesday hit J.P. Morgan Chase , HSBC and Crédit Agricole with fines totaling €485 million ($520 million), saying they participated in a cartel that aimed to steer a benchmark interest rate. The banks “colluded on euro interest rate derivative pricing elements, and exchanged sensitive information, in breach of EU antitrust rules,” the European Commission said in a statement.

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Italy’s Prime Minister Renzi to resign Friday: report

Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi will turn in his resignation on Friday, according to a Reuters report Wednesday, citing a parliamentary source. Renzi said Sunday he would leave his post after voters rejected a referendum proposing changes to the country’s constitution. Renzi was reportedly asked to stay on long enough to oversee the passage of Italy’s 2017 budget. The country isn’t due to hold a parliamentary election before 2018, but consensus is growing among party leaders to hold it a year earlier, Reuters reported.

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Deadly earthquake rocks Indonesia’s Aceh province

A strong undersea earthquake struck Indonesia’s Aceh province early Wednesday, causing buildings to collapse and a number of deaths. The U.S. Geological Survey reported the 5:03 a.m. quake at 6.4-magnitude, at a depth of 17 kilometers off the northwest coast of the island of Sumatra. Indonesian TV reported at least 20 deaths. Officials said there was no tsunami threat. Aceh was devastated in December 2004 by a massive 9.1-magnitude earthquake and resulting tsunami that killed more than 200,000 people around the Indian Ocean.

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Tesla recalls charging adapters after two overheat

Tesla Motors Inc. is recalling three types of charging adapters after two of the devices overheated. The company said in an email sent to customers Tuesday that it was recalling the optional adapters, used to plug the company’s electric-car chargers into different types of outlets, after two overheated. The company said the NEMA 14-30 model of adapter overheated for two customers, so it was voluntarily recalling those as well as two other models– NEMA 10-30 and 6-50 adapters — because they share commen elements. Tesla said in the email that the overheating adapters did not cause any injuries nor property damage, and said the recall affects a small number of North American consumers. The adapters “are sold separately as accessories and … are used by relatively few of our customers,” the company said in its email. Tesla directed customers to its recall information website for more information. Tesla stock closed with a 0.5% drop to $185.95 Tuesday.

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Western Digital shares up nearly 5% as company raises quarterly estimates

Shares of Western Digital Corp. rose nearly 5% late Tuesday after the Irvine, Calif., hardware maker tweaked upward its revenue and adjusted per-share earnings estimates for fiscal second quarter. Western Digital said it expects sales to reach about $4.75 billion, compared with its earlier forecast of approximately $4.7 billion. Per-share earnings are seen in a range between $2.10 to $2.15, from a previous expectation of $1.85 to $1.95. The company said it will report quarterly earnings in late January. In a separate statement, Western Digital said it renewed its agreement with Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. relating to semiconductor patents. The renewed agreement runs through December 2024. Shares of Western Digital had ended the regular trading session up 2.8%.

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