Tag: stock market

Oil futures dropped back below $40 a barrel on Wednesday as data showed that U.S. crude supplies rose for a sixth straight week-and more than three times the amount the market expected. The Energy Information Administration said supplies rose 9.4 million barrels last week, while analysts polled by Platts expected a 2.7 million-barrel increase. May WTI crude fell $1.66, or 4%, to settle at $39.79 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

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Gold futures fell Wednesday to settle at their lowest level in nearly a month, pressured by strength in the U.S. dollar . Gold for April delivery settled at $1,224 an ounce, down $24.60, or 2%, after trading as low at $1,215.40. The settlement was the lowest since Feb. 26, according to FactSet data.

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Pinnacle Foods Inc.’s stock is having its worst day since the packaged foods company went public three years ago, following the surprise departure of its chief executive officer, although some analysts weren’t too concerned about the news. The stock plunged 10.4%, in morning trade. Recent volume of 5.6 million shares was already nearly seven times the full-day average. The stock’s previous worst-ever day was May 27, 2014, when it slid 5.4%. Earlier, the company, which brands include Duncan Hines and Birds Eye Frozen, said its CEO Robert Gamgort was leaving at the end of April, after nearly seven years with the company, to be the CEO of Keurig Green Mountain. Analyst Eric Gottlieb at D.A. Davidson reiterated his neutral rating on the stock following Gamgort’s “surprise” departure. “We view the departure as a loss as the company has taken many steps forward under Gamgort’s leadership,” Gottlieb wrote in a note to clients. “That said, we believe the company is on solid footing and new leadership should not change company momentum.”

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Corvus Pharmaceuticals, Inc. , a company developing cancer treatment drugs, opened at $15 a share Wednesday in its debut on the Nasdaq. The company had priced its offering at $15 Tuesday night at the low-end of its $15 to $17 range. Corvus Pharmaceuticals sold 4.7 million shares to raise about $70.5 million. Cowen & Co., and Credit Suisse Securities were the lead underwriters of the offering. Shares of Corvus were trading at $14.90 in early morning trade.

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Oil futures lost more ground on Wednesday after the U.S. Energy Information Administration reported a 9.4 million-barrel jump in crude-oil supplies for the week ended March 18. That was bigger than the 8.8 million-barrel increase reported by the American Petroleum Institute, and more than triple the rise of 2.7 million barrels expected by analysts polled by Platts. Gasoline supplies dropped by 4.6 million barrels, while distillate stockpiles edged up by 900,000 barrels last week, according to the EIA. May crude was at $40.37 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, down $1.08, or 2.6%. Prices traded at $40.55 before the data.

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Affymetrix Inc.’s stock soared 6.2% in active morning trade Wednesday, after the biotechnology company said an unsolicited buyout bid it received from Origin Technologies Corp. will likely be seen as a “superior proposal” to the Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc.’s bid. Volume of 1.8 million shares just minutes after the open was already more than the full-day average. The company said the meeting of shareholders, scheduled for March 24, to vote on the merger with Thermo Fisher will be immediately adjourned without a vote, and will reconvene on March 31. Affymetrix said it continues to recommend the merger with Thermo Fisher, but said it would be inconsistent with its fiduciary duties not to consider Origin Technologies’ bid. Affymetrix’s stock has run up 52% year to date, while the S&P 500 is little changed.

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U.S. stocks opened lower on Wednesday, as slumping oil prices weighed down energy shares. Stocks dropped for a second day in this holiday-shortened week, a day after a terror attack in Brussels marred global markets. The S&P 500 opened 4 points, or 0.2%, lower at 2,045. The Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 45 points, or 0.3%, to 17,536. Meanwhile, the Nasdaq Composite began the day down 10 points, or 0.2%, at 4,811. U.S. markets will be closed on Friday in observance of Good Friday.

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Thirty-one people were killed and 270 people wounded at the terror attacks in Brussels on Tuesday, the Belgian prosecutor Frederic Van Leeuw said a press conference on Wednesday. That brings the death toll slightly down from the 34 that was widely reported after the deadly explosions on Tuesday. The prosecutor also said that one of the prime suspects from the Zaventum airport attack, Najim Laachraoui, was still on the run. An earlier local media report had said the suspected Islamic State operative was arrested in a Brussels suburb, although the news outlet later retracted the story. Out of the three attackers at the Brussels international airport, Laachraoui had carried the most powerful bomb, which did not explode, according to Van Leeuw. Belgian police has identified one of the airport suicide bombers as Ibrahim El Bakraoui, but the identity of the second one is still unknown. El Bakraoui’s brother, Khalid, blew himself up at the Maelbeek metro station were around 20 people died.

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Pinnacle Foods Inc.’s stock slumped 2.4% in premarket trade Wednesday, after the consumer foods company said its chief executive officer, Robert Gamgort, will leave the company at the end of April. Gamgort will be assuming the CEO role of single-serve coffee company Keurig Green Mountain, which was taken private earlier this year by JAB Holding Co. Pinnacle said it was evaluating external and internal candidates to replace Gamgort, and expects to the search to conclude in time for a “seamless” transition. Pinnacle’s stock has surged 8.5% year to date through Tuesday, while the S&P 500 has ticked up 0.3%.

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The third suspect in the Brussels Airport bombing may still be on the run from police on Wednesday. Belgian newspaper DH said earlier that special police forces had arrested Najim Laachraoui in Brussels’s Anderlecht district, but the news outlet later said it was another man that had been arrested. Laachraoui is believed to be one of three men caught on CCTV at the Zaventem airport on Tuesday, shortly before two bombs went off and killed 14 people. The two other suspects in the photo have been identified as brothers Khalid and Brahim El Bakraoui, who are believed to have died as they set off suicide bombs. Authorities have been searching for Laachraoui after his DNA was found in a Brussels apartment linked to the Paris terror attacks.

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