Tag: stock market

A Saturday shooting spree left six dead at various locations in Kalamazoo, Mich., with local authorities, according to the Kalamazoo Gazette, saying 45-year-old Jason B. Dalton was taken into custody after midnight and had acted alone. The police chief in the city of 76,000 people, home to Western Michigan University and Kalamazoo College, characterized the alleged gunman as “totally unprovoked” and his alleged actions as “random acts of violence,” according to the Gazette. Shooting locations included a Ford dealership, a Cracker Barrel restaurant and a town-house complex, the Gazette reported. At a Sunday-morning news conference, the county prosecutor reportedly said there was “just no question more people would have died if [police] hadn’t found him when they did.” The suspect was reportedly taken into custody in the parking lot of a downtown bar.

Market Pulse Stories are Rapid-fire, short news bursts on stocks and markets as they move. Visit MarketWatch.com for more information on this news.

…read more

From:: Stock Market News

Salesforce.com Inc. has acquired Silicon Valley machine-learning startup PredictionIO to bulk up its own technology. PredictionIO cofounder and CEO Simon Chen announced the move in a blog post Friday, without disclosing the price of the deal; Salesforce confirmed the purchase without offering additional information. “At Salesforce, PredictionIO’s innovative machine learning platform will extend SalesforceIQ’s machine learning capabilities and enhance intelligence across the Salesforce clouds,” Chen wrote. Machine learning is a basic form of artificial intelligence, in which computers are trained to act without specific programming. PredictionIO has developed a server with open-source machine-learning technology, TechCrunch reported earlier Friday, and will keep the technology open-source after the acquisition. Salesforce stock gained 0.2% in late trading Friday, after closing with a 0.7% gain at $62.14.

Market Pulse Stories are Rapid-fire, short news bursts on stocks and markets as they move. Visit MarketWatch.com for more information on this news.

…read more

From:: Stock Market News

Moody’s Investors Service on Friday affirmed Spain’s sovereign rating of “Baa2” but lowered the outlook on the rating to stable from positive. The ratings agency said while the banking sector has stabilized and is in better shape to support the economy, there are still some reforms that need to be implemented. “The momentum behind further reform has faltered” amid several elections in the recent years and an “above-trend” economic growth, Sarah Carlson, senior vice president of Moody’s sovereign risk group, said in a statement. Baa2 is two notches above junk bond territory.

Market Pulse Stories are Rapid-fire, short news bursts on stocks and markets as they move. Visit MarketWatch.com for more information on this news.

…read more

From:: Stock Market News

Icahn Enterprises L.P.’s stock tumbled 11% Friday, meaning Carl Icahn may have lost over $700 million on the investment vehicle’s shares he owns. The stock’s selloff came after Standard & Poor’s indicated Icahn Enterprises’ credit rating could be cut to junk status. Icahn is the company’s chairman, and by far its largest shareholder, as he owned 117.04 million common shares, or 91% of the shares outstanding, as of Dec. 31, according to FactSet. If his holding remained intact on Friday, the stock’s $6.10 price decline means he would have lost $713.91 million on his bet. With the stock down $12.55, or 20%, year to date, Icahn could be down $1.47 billion on his investment this year.

Market Pulse Stories are Rapid-fire, short news bursts on stocks and markets as they move. Visit MarketWatch.com for more information on this news.

…read more

From:: Stock Market News

U.S. stocks finished slightly lower Friday as a slide in oil prices resumed, but managed to log their largest weekly gains in three months. The Dow industrials finished down 22.3 points, or 0.1%, at 16,391.10. The S&P 500 finished flat at 1,917.67. The Nasdaq Composite finished 16.89 points, or 0.4%, higher at 4,504.43. Both the Dow and S&P 500 posted their largest weekly gains since Nov. 20, up 2.6% and 2.8%, respectively. Meanwhile, the Nasdaq Composite’s 3.9% weekly gain was its largest since July 17.

Market Pulse Stories are Rapid-fire, short news bursts on stocks and markets as they move. Visit MarketWatch.com for more information on this news.

…read more

From:: Stock Market News

Shares of United Continental Holdings Inc. climbed 3.5% in afternoon trade Friday, enough to make them the biggest percentage gainer among components of the Dow Jones Transportation Average . The air carrier disclosed in a filing late Thursday that it now expects to buy back about $1.5 billion worth of its common stock during the first quarter, compared with its previouly-announced plan to repurchase “about $750 million” of its shares. “It is obvious there is a newfound sense of urgency at UAL, which we could clearly see when we went out there two weeks ago with investors,” analyst Hunter Keay at Wolfe Research wrote in a note to clients. “It’s also likely that UAL’s board is listening to their biggest and/or more ‘active’ owners.” Even with Friday’s gain, the stock has dropped 19% over the past 12 months, while the S&P 500 has slipped 8.6%.

Market Pulse Stories are Rapid-fire, short news bursts on stocks and markets as they move. Visit MarketWatch.com for more information on this news.

…read more

From:: Stock Market News

Icahn Enterprises L.P.’s stock tumbled 5.9% in afternoon trade Friday, sharply extending losses after Standard & Poor’s placed the investment holding company’s credit rating on watch with negative implications. A downgrade of the credit rating, currently at BBB-, would put it into junk territory. The stock was down about 0.6% just before S&P’s announcement. “The CreditWatch action reflects declining investment values in the firm’s portfolio that we believe have very likely led to the firm exceeding a 45% loan-to-value (LTV) ratio, which we previously cited as a key threshold for the rating,” said S&P credit analyst Clayton Montgomery. Montgomery said he believes it’s possible that Chairman Carl Icahn, the company’s largest shareholder, could initiate an equity raise to support the capitalization, but that assumption isn’t included in the current rating or outlook. Icahn owns 117 million common shares of the company, or about 91% of the shares outstanding, according to FactSet. The stock has tumbled 47% over the last 12 months, while the S&P 500 has lost 8.7%.

Market Pulse Stories are Rapid-fire, short news bursts on stocks and markets as they move. Visit MarketWatch.com for more information on this news.

…read more

From:: Stock Market News

Gold futures ended higher Friday, but registered their first weekly loss in about a month in an up-and-down stretch for stocks marked by a multisession rally in the early part of the holiday-shortened week. April gold ended $4.50, or 0.4%, higher to settle at $1,230.80 an ounce, but logged a weekly decline of 0.7%.

Market Pulse Stories are Rapid-fire, short news bursts on stocks and markets as they move. Visit MarketWatch.com for more information on this news.

…read more

From:: Stock Market News

Gold futures ended higher Friday, but registered their first weekly loss in about a month in an up-and-down stretch for stocks marked by a multisession rally in the early part of the holiday-shortened week. April gold ended $4.50, or 0.4%, higher to settle at $1,230.80 an ounce, but logged a weekly decline of 0.7%.

Market Pulse Stories are Rapid-fire, short news bursts on stocks and markets as they move. Visit MarketWatch.com for more information on this news.

…read more

From:: Stock Market News

The number of U.S. oil rigs fell by 26 to a total of 439 in the latest week, oil-services firm Baker Hughes reported Friday, marking the ninth straight week of declines. The number of rigs has fallen by 606 from a year ago. Oil futures remained lower after the data, with West Texas Intermediate crude for March delivery on the New York Mercantile Exchange down $1.19, or 3.9%, at $29.58 a barrel.

Market Pulse Stories are Rapid-fire, short news bursts on stocks and markets as they move. Visit MarketWatch.com for more information on this news.

…read more

From:: Stock Market News