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WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) – President Barack Obama does not plan to meet Fidel Castro during his visit to Cuba next month, a senior White House official said Thursday. “I wouldn’t expect him to meet with Fidel Castro, Raul Castro is the president of Cuba,” said Ben Rhodes, deputy national security advisor.
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Amazon.com Inc.’s stock slipped 0.1% in midday trade Thursday, but outperformed the broader stock market, after the online retailer was upgraded at Canaccord Genuity, which said valuation is now “as reasonable as it has been in years.” Analyst Michael Graham raised his rating to buy from hold, and boosted his stock price target to $750, which was 40% above current levels, from $600. Graham said he had “regrettably missed last year’s big move” in Amazon’s stock–it more than doubled in 2015–because he was concerned that margin improvement would slow. But with the stock down 21% year to date, he suggested the price more appropriately reflected his concerns. Other reasons for the upgrade include expectations of continued strong sales growth, gains in ecommerce market share and significant growth in Amazon’s cloud business. “We believe [Amazon’s] stock is unlikely to truly retreat into ‘value’ territory as long as top-line momentum is strong, and we expect this to persist for the foreseeable future,” Graham wrote in a note to clients. Amazon’s stock was declining Thursday much less than the technology-heavy Nasdaq 100 , which fell 0.7%, and the S&P 500 , which was down 0.3%.
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Saudi Arabia’s foreign minister on Thursday said the country is “not prepared” to cut oil production, Agence France-Presse reported. The remarks come after the world’s top oil producer reached a tentative agreement with Russia earlier this week to freeze production at current levels if other producers went along. Iran on Wednesday welcomed the pact but didn’t indicate it would comply. “If other producers want to limit or agree to a freeze in terms of additional production that may have an impact on the market but Saudi Arabia is not prepared to cut production, Finance Minister Adel al-Jubeir said. Brent crude for April delivery on London’s ICE exchange was down 25 cents, or 0.7%, at $34.25 a barrel, while March West Texas Intermediate crude was up 13 cents, or 0.4%, at $30.79 a barrel.
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Anglo American PLC [uk: aal] on Thursday offered to buy back up to $1.5 billion in bonds, a move that comes after three major credit agencies this week cut their ratings on the miner’s debt. Anglo’s debt offer involves bonds denominated in euro, sterling and U.S. dollars that mature this year, in 2017 and in 2018. Standard & Poor’s on Thursday joined Moody’s Investors Service and Fitch Ratings in cutting their ratings on Anglo to junk status. Anglo, in a regulatory filing, said the buyback would allow it to “reduce gross debt and smooth the company’s debt maturity profile while improving cash flows by reducing interest expense.” Investors have until Feb. 25 to respond to the offer.
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Oil futures erased gains Thursday after the Energy Information Administration reported that U.S. crude inventories rose 2.1 million barrels in the week ended Feb. 12. Analysts surveyed by oil-data firm Platts had forecast a rise of 3.3 million barrels. The EIA said gasoline inventories rose by 3 millin barrels last week while distillate inventories rose 1.4 million barrels. The Platts survey found expectations for a 1 million barrel fall in gasoline stocks and a 1.8 million barrel decline in distillate stocks. March crude oil futures were up just 1 cent at $30.67 a barrel following the data, after trading as high as $31.98 in earlier activity.
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International Business Machines Corp.’s stock is running up 4.6% in morning trade Thursday, enough to keep the Dow Jones Industrial Average in positive territory. The $5.83 price gain in IBM shares is adding about 40 points to the Dow, which is up 7 points. Earlier, IBM announced it was buying cloud-based healthcare data provider Truven Health Analytics for $2.6 billion. IBM’s stock has not lost 2.9% over the past three months, while the Dow has dropped 7.2%.
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U.S. stocks opened higher on Thursday as a continued rally in oil prices boosted energy companies. If the main indexes close higher on Thursday it would mark the fourth straight session of gains. The S&P 500 opened 2 points, or 0.1%, higher at 1,929. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 41 points, or 0.2%, to 16,492 shortly after the open. Meanwhile, the Nasdaq Composite began the day up 10 points, or 0.2%, at 4,544.
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Coca-Cola Corp. announced Thursday a 6% increase in its quarterly dividend to 35 cents a share from 33 cents a share. The new dividend will be payable April 1 to shareholders of record as of March 15. Based on Wednesday’s closing price of the beverage giant’s shares at $43.49, the new annual dividend of $1.40 a share represents a dividend yield of 3.2%, above the aggregate S&P 500 dividend yield of 2.31%, according to FactSet. The company said it was the 54th consecutive year that it has raised its dividend. The stock, which edged up 0.4% in premarket trade, has gained 2.9% over the past three months, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average has lost 7.2%.
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Shares of Virgin America fell 1% pre-market Thursday after the company missed fourth-quarter revenue expectations. Virgin America reported net income of $190.9 million, or $4.28 per share, up from $3.87 million, or 16 cents per share, in the year-earlier period. Excluding special items, Virgin American reported earnings per share of $1.20, in line with the FactSet consensus of $1.20. The company reported revenue of $391. 5 million, above $372.2 million in the year-earlier period, but below the FactSet consensus of $392.6 million. The company reported load factor of 81.1% compared to 81.2% in the year-earlier period. For 2015, David Cush, chief executive of Virgin America, said Virgin America had the highest net income in company history.
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Shares of Virgin America fell 1% pre-market Thursday after the company missed fourth-quarter revenue expectations. Virgin America reported net income of $190.9 million, or $4.28 per share, up from $3.87 million, or 16 cents per share, in the year-earlier period. Excluding special items, Virgin American reported earnings per share of $1.20, in line with the FactSet consensus of $1.20. The company reported revenue of $391. 5 million, above $372.2 million in the year-earlier period, but below the FactSet consensus of $392.6 million. The company reported load factor of 81.1% compared to 81.2% in the year-earlier period. For 2015, David Cush, chief executive of Virgin America, said Virgin America had the highest net income in company history.
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