Tag: stock market

Weather analytics company Planalytics forecasts that a cold blast of air from Dec. 5 through Dec. 11 moving from the West Coast to the East Coast will provide a $107 million lift in apparel store sales year-over-year. Planalytics believes the cold temperatures will reach major cities in the East by the weekend. “For many markets, temperatures will be below normal and below the freezing point as well,” the organization wrote in a news alert. Dec. 2015 was the warmest in more than 120 years, Planalytics said. The warm temperatures hurt sales at retailers like Macy’s Inc. , which are hoping for more seasonable weather this holiday season. There’s a risk of snow in Canada and across northern U.S. as well, which “will drive demand for snow throwers, ice melt shovels, firewood and warm foods,” said Planalytics.

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Gold prices settled lower Thursday, following their worst monthly slide in more than three years, as investors shunned safe-haven assets. Gold for February delivery settled down $4.50, or 0.4%, at $1,169.40 an ounce, while the SPDR Gold Trust ETF declined 0.3%. Silver ticked slightly higher as the March contract for the metal settled up 2.4 cents, or 0.1%, at just under $16.51 an ounce.

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Major exchange-traded funds pegged to moves in crude oil are on track for their biggest weekly gain in more than a year, boosted as OPEC unexpectedly reached a deal to cut production – a move that could address the commodity’s oversupply and help stabilize prices. Crude oil has surged 11% this week, as have the United States Oil Fund LP and the iPath S&P GSCI Crude Oil Total Return Index exchange-traded note . Among other funds, the United States 12 Month Oil Fund LP is up 8.6% for the week while the PowerShares DB Oil Fund has climbed 10.2%. The VelocityShares 3x Long Crude ETN a triple leveraged fund that offers 300% of the daily move of its underlying index, has skyrocketed about 32% thus far this week. In all the cases, they are on track for their best weekly performance since August 2015. On Wednesday, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and other major oil producers reached a deal to curb daily oil production by 1.2 million barrels a day, bringing it to a ceiling of 32.5 million barrels.

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If the stock market looks a bit schizoid Thursday, that’s because NYSE breadth data are telling two very different stories. The number of declining stocks on the big board were beating advancers by a score of 1,797 to 1,159. However, volume in advancing stocks was about 55% of total volume, with up volume leading down volume 308.4 million shares to 257.9 million shares. Big board breadth told a similar mixed story on Wednesday. Meanwhile, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 42 points in afternoon trade, while the S&P 500 was down 0.4%. The Nasdaq exchange was more in line, with decliners leading advancers 3,959 to 2,553 and down volume beating up volume 399.1 million shares to 283.4 million shares. The Nasdaq Composite slumped 1.4%.

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There are two key reasons the Dow Jones Industrial Average is still up, when the other major market indexes are down–Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Chevron Corp. . Goldman’s stock soared $4.78, or 2.2%, to a nine-year high, as the continued climb Treasury yields spurred further buying in financial stocks. Chevron shares jumped $3.16, or 2.8%, to a two-year high, as crude oil prices extended their surge above the $50-a-barrel mark. Those two stocks were adding 54 points to the Dow, which was up 42 points in afternoon trade. Meanwhile, the S&P 500 was down 0.4%, the Nasdaq Composite Index was shedding 1.4% and the Russell 2000 Index fell 0.5%.

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Shares of technology stocks sold-off sharply across-the-board on Thursday, with Oracle Corp. and Salesforce Inc. among the biggest laggards. The Technology Select Sector SPDR Fund , a tech industry-focused ETF, fell 2% in afternoon trade, while the Nasdaq Composite fell 1.2% and the tech-heavy PowerShares QQQ Trust fell 1.6%. Shares of Salesforce dropped 3.9% to $69.22 in afternoon trade, while Oracle’s tumbled 3.5% to $38.80. Among the other major decliners were Qualcomm Inc. , down 3.2%, and Facebook Inc. , down 2.8% to $115.07. Apple Inc. was also in the red, but only by half-a-percentage-point, trading around $109.83.

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Bank of Mexico Governor Agustin Carstens will step down as the head of the country’s central bank in July 2017, according to news reports Thursday. Carstens will become the general manager of the Bank for International Settlements in October 2017, BIS said in a statement. Carstens, who has been on BIS’s board since 2011, has served as the head of Mexico’s central bank since 2010. Carstens will succeed Jaime Caruana, who is retiring next year. The Basel, Switzerland-based BIS is a consortium of central banks.

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Natural-gas futures gained more ground Thursday after the U.S. Energy Information Administration reported that supplies of the commodity fell by 50 billion cubic feet for the week ended Nov. 25. That matched the forecasted decline from analysts polled by S&P Global Platts. Total stocks now stand at 3.995 trillion cubic feet, up 24 billion cubic feet from a year ago and 235 billion cubic feet above the five-year average, the government said. January natural gas rose 10.2 cents, or 3%, to $3.453 per million British thermal units. It traded at $3.438 before the data.

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General Motors Co.’s stock surged 2.3% to the highest level since Dec. 10, 2015 in morning trade Thursday, after the auto maker said November U.S. vehicle sales jumped 8% from a year ago, with all four brands showing growth. GM said it estimates that retail market share rose 0.3 percentage points in November to 16.8%, marking the 17th of the past 20 months that market share increased. Of GM’s four U.S. brands, Chevrolet sales rose 5%, Buick sales increased 22%, GMC sales improved 9% and Cadillac sales jumped 17%. GM said average transaction prices after incentives rose to $35,767, or more than $4,000 above the industry average. “All economic indicators show significantly improved optimism about the U.S. economy including consumer and business sentiment, which continue to drive a very healthy U.S. auto industry,” said Chief Economist Mustafa Mohatarem. “We believe the U.S. auto industry is well-positioned for sales to continue at or near record levels into 2017.” The stock has gained 3.9% year to date, while the S&P 500 has climbed 7.6%.

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InterContinental Hotels Group PLC said Thursday that it is working with nonprofit organization The Humane League on a plan to source 100% cage-free eggs throughout operations in the U.S., Canada and Europe. This is part of a broader goal to source cage-free eggs across the globe by 2025. InterContinental brands include Kimpton Hotels and Restaurants, Holiday Inn and Crowne Plaza. InterContinental shares are down 2.1% in early Thursday trading, but up 20.4% for the year to date. The S&P 500 index is up 7.6% for 2016 so far.

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