Caterpillar’s stock leads Dow gainers after peer Deere’s blowout results

Shares of Caterpillar Inc. surged 2.3% to a 23-month high, after fellow agriculture and construction equipment maker Deere & Co.’s blowout quarterly results. Caterpillar’s stock was the biggest price and percentage gainer among the Dow Jones Industrial Average’s components. The stock’s price gain of $2.18 was accounting for about 15 points of the Dow’s 19-point gain. Deere’s stock rocketed 10% to a record high, after the company beat fiscal fourth-quarter earnings and revenue expectations by wide margins. Caterpillar’s stock has now run up 41% year to date, while the Dow has climbed 9.3%.

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Oil futures gain after EIA reports 1.3 million-barrel fall in U.S. crude supplies

Oil futures climbed Wednesday after the U.S. Energy Information Administration reported that domestic crude supplies in the week ended Nov. 18 fell by 1.3 million barrels. That matched the decline reported by the American Petroleum Institute late Tuesday, according to sources. Analysts polled by S&P Global Platts expected supplies to be unchanged, while a survey from The Wall Street Journal forecast an increase of 800,000 barrels. Gasoline supplies climbed 2.3 million barrels and distillate stockpiles also rose by 300,000 barrels, according to the EIA. January crude rose 34 cents, or 0.7%, to $48.37 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Prices traded at $48.02 before the data.

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Analysts say Juno’s stock tumbles should spill over to Bluebird, Kite Pharma shares

Bluebird Bio Inc.’s stock slumped 2.5% and Kite Pharma Inc. shares shed 4.2% in morning trade Wednesday, in the wake of peer Juno Therapeutics Inc.’s halted drug trial. Analyst Debjit Chattopadhyay at Janney Montgomery Scott said the selloff in Bluebird’s stock is “unwarranted” because even though the company and Juno have a similar class of treatment for cancer, there are significant differences in “preconditioning regimens” and doses. RBC Capital analyst Michael Yee said he expects Kite shares to recover, because despite a similar class of treatment, Yee said he believes Kite has treated more patients across its programs with no issues. Chattopadhyay reiterated the buy rating on Bluebird and Yee maintained the outperform rating on Kite. Meanwhile, Juno’s stock plunged 31% to a record low. It has plunged 53% year to date, while Bluebird’s stock has lost 6.6%, Kite shares have dropped 18% and the S&P 500 has gained 7.5%.

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U.S. stocks start pre-holiday session mixed

The S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite opened lower on Wednesday while Dow industrials inched higher into record territory ahead of the Thanksgiving holiday. Investors digested some better-than-expected economic releases ahead of the bell with more on tap later. Durable-goods orders jumped in October by more than expected, while jobless claims leapt to 251,000 and in line with expectations. The S&P 500 opened 6 points, or 0.3%, lower at 2,197. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 7 points, or less than 0.1%, at 19,030. The Nasdaq Composite began the session down 27 points, or 0.5%, at 5,360, as biotech stocks sold off.

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UPDATE: Juno Therapeutics plummets 30% in pre-market trade after two patient deaths

Juno Therapeutics Inc. shares plummeted 30.4% in pre-market trade Wednesday after the company said two patients in its cancer trial had died. Both patients experienced brain trauma earlier in the week during a phase 2 trial for a leukemia treatment, the company said. Two patients also died in early July in the same clinical trial, but the company was allowed to resume the trial without the chemotherapy drug fludarabine, which Juno believed caused the deaths in combination with the company’s JCAR015 drug. This week, Juno put the trial on clinical hold, and said it is working with the Food and Drug Administration and the Data and Safety Monitoring Board, an independent expert advisory group, to “determine next steps.” The company said its other product candidates targeting the B Cell Specific Antigen CD19 won’t be affected. Juno shares have dropped 32.0% year-to-date, compared with a 7.8% rise in the S&P 500 .

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Juno Therapeutics halts midstage clinical trial after patient death

Juno Therapeutics Inc. shares were halted in pre-market trade Wednesday after the company said one patient in its cancer trial had died and one was “not expected to recover.” The two patients both experienced brain trauma earlier in the week during a phase 2 trial for a leukemia treatment, the company said. Two patients died in early July in the same clinical trial, but the company was allowed to resume the trial without the chemotherapy drug fludarabine, which Juno believed caused the deaths in combination with the company’s JCAR015 drug. This week, Juno put the trial on clinical hold, and said it is working with the Food and Drug Administration and the Data and Safety Monitoring Board, an independent expert advisory group, to “determine next steps.” The company said its other product candidates targeting the B Cell Specific Antigen CD19 won’t be affected. Juno shares have dropped 32.0% year-to-date, compared with a 7.8% rise in the S&P 500 .

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Deere’s stock surges after profit and sales beat expectations

Shares of Deere & Co. surged 2.4% in premarket trade Wednesday toward a 15-month high, after the agricultural and construction equipment maker beat fiscal fourth-quarter profit and sales expectations. Earnings for the quarter to Oct. 31 fell to $285.3 million, or 90 cents a share, from $351.2 million, or $1.08 a share, in the same period a year ago. The FactSet consensus for earnings per share was 40 cents. Total revenue declined to $6.52 billion from $6.72 billion, but was above the FactSet consensus of $6.16 billion, as equipment sales fell 5%. Both agriculture and turf and construction and forestry sales fell 5%, but beat expectations. Looking ahead, the company expects equipment sales to slip 4% in the first quarter 1% for fiscal 2017. “The company in 2016 had one of its ten-best years in both sales and earnings, a noteworthy achievement in light of the difficult business climate,” said Chief Executive Samuel Allen. “Deere’s performance benefited from the adept execution of its operating plans and disciplined cost management as well as the impact of a broad product portfolio.” The stock has soared 21% year to date through Tuesday, while the S&P 500 has gained 7.8%.

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Eli Lilly shares slide premarket after company says Alzheimer’s drug trial failed

Eli Lilly and Co. shares tumbled 14% in premarket trade Wednesday, after the company said a late-stage trial of a treatment for dementia in patients with Alzheimer’s Disease failed to meet its goal. The phase 3 trial of solanezumab failed to meet its primary endpoint, the company said in a statement. It will no longer pursue regulatory submissions for the drug. “The results of the solanezumab EXPEDITION3 trial were not what we had hoped for and we are disappointed for the millions of people waiting for a potential disease-modifying treatment for Alzheimer’s disease,” Chief Executive John C. Lechleiter, Ph.D., said in a statement. “We will evaluate the impact of these results on the development plans for solanezumab and our other Alzheimer’s pipeline assets.” The company expects to book a charge of 9 cents a share in the fourth quarter and will update its 2016 guidance and provide an outlook for 2017 on Dec. 15. Shares were down 10% for the year through Tuesday, while the S&P 500 has gained 7.8%.

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API data show U.S. crude-oil supply down 1.3 mln barrels: sources

The American Petroleum Institute late Tuesday reported a fall of 1.3 million barrels in U.S. crude supplies for the week ended Nov. 18, according to sources. Analysts polled by S&P Global Platts expected stockpiles to be unchanged, while The Wall Street Journal survey of analysts and traders forecast a climb of 800,000 barrels. Sources also said the API showed an increase of 2.7 million barrels in gasoline inventories. “The gasoline build and the drop in crude [supply] is a sign refiners are coming out of maintenance. Gasoline demand continues to be near a record for this time of year and refiners want to get a jump on it,” said Phil Flynn, senior market analyst at Price Futures Group. Supply data from the Energy Information Administration will be released Wednesday. December crude was at $47.90 a barrel in electronic trading, below the contract’s settlement of $48.03 on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

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Madison Square Garden says customer card data may have been hacked

Madison Square Garden Co. said late Tuesday that hackers may have stolen payment card data over the course of a year from patrons that used them at its venues. The company said magnetic data on cards used at merchandise, food and beverage vendors at Madison Square Garden, The Theater at Madison Square Garden, Radio City Music Hall, Beacon Theatre and The Chicago Theatre from Nov. 9, 2015 to Oct. 24, 2016 may be affected. The breach did not affect sales at its websites, its box office sales, or sales through Ticketmaster, the company said. Madison Square Garden shares were up 0.3% at $173.50 after hours.

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