Tag: stock market

Federal Reserve Bank of Boston President Eric Rosengren said on Thursday that progress has been made on reducing risks from “too big to fail” financial institutions, according to media reports. In prepared remarks for a speech given in Cape Town, South Africa, Rosengren said there had been “significant progress” which should reduce the “the possibility that taxpayers in the United States would need to bail out” large financial companies in times of stress. “Too big to fail” institutions are companies, such as Lehman Brothers, considered systemically important because their failure could threaten the entire financial system. Rosengren also said he backs tougher stress tests for those institutions, including higher capital requirements, according to Reuters. The Boston Fed President didn’t comment on monetary policy.

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The euro on Thursday jumped to the highest level since October after European Central Bank President Mario Draghi discussed the pros and cons of using monetary policy to fight off low inflation. In a speech delivered at a conference at Germany’s Bundesbank, the ECB boss said the central bank will not “surrender” to low inflation. “Adopting a wait-and-see attitude and extending the policy horizon brings with it risks: namely a lasting de-anchoring of expectations leading to persistently weaker inflation,” he said. “And if that were to happen, we would need a much more accommodative monetary policy to reverse it. Seen from that perspective, the risks of acting too late outweigh the risks of acting too early,” he added. The speech was mainly interpreted as dovish. However, the euro rose after the comments to trade at $1.1168, the highest level since October, according to FactSet data. Ahead of the comments the shared currency traded around $1.1069, compared with $1.1104 late Wednesday in New York. The dollar on Wednesday logged its largest one-day drop versus the euro in two months, after a disappointing reading on U.S. service-sector activity was seen as putting Federal Reserve interest-rate increases on hold.

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VirnetX Holding Corp. shares jumped in the extended session Wednesday after a federal jury in Texas ordered Apple Inc. to pay the Internet security software company more than $625 million for patent infringement. VirnetX shares surged 80% to $8.60 following reports of the award. According to court documents, Apple did not contest infringement of VirnetX patents for use in its VPN on Demand feature, FaceTime system, and iMessage system. The award was more than $532 million than what VirnetX had asked for going into the trial, according to Reuters.

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GoPro Inc. shares rebounded slightly from a 16% drop Wednesday afternoon, after the company outlined new hardware and software offerings set to arrive in 2016. GoPro Chief Executive Nicholas Woodman said on a conference call that GoPro “is doubling down” after a disappointing holiday quarter, while detailing a revamp of GoPro’s video editing software and announcing a new Hero 5. Much of GoPro’s downfall has been focused on disappointing results for the Hero 4 Session camera that launched in 2015 and had its price cut twice, and analysts have said GoPro’s software offerings were holding it back. GoPro executives also revealed that GoPro’s first consumer drone offering, the Karma, will arrive in the first half of the year and a virtual-reality camera rig will launch in the summer. GoPro shares, which fell to a new low of $9 in immediate late trading after earnings were announced, nearly halved those losses after those announcements, recently trading down about 9.5%, near $9.70. That price would still be an all-time low for the company’s stock.

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Harley-Davidson Inc. said Wednesday its board of directors approved a dividend increase to 35 cents a share for the first quarter, an increase of nearly 13% compared with a fourth-quarter dividend of 31 cents a shares. The dividend is payable March 4 to shareholders of record on Feb. 17. The board also authorized the motorcycle company to buy back up to 20 million shares, which is in addition to an existing share buyback authorization approved in June. As of late 2015, 9 million shares remained on that buyback plan. Shares of Harley-Davidson fell 0.5% in late trading Wednesday after ending the day up 0.9%.

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GoPro Inc. revealed losses in the holiday quarter and named a new chief financial officer, while providing a forecast well short of Wall Street expectations. The action-camera company revealed a loss of $34.4 million, or 25 cents a share, on sales of $436.6 million; after adjustments, GoPro said it lost 8 cents a share. Analysts polled by FactSet on average predicted a break-even quarter for adjusted profit on sales of $435 million, after GoPro warned of a disappointing holiday quarter in January. Analysts had expected more than $500 million in sales before GoPro’s warning, which also included news of layoffs. GoPro said it expects sales of $160 million to $180 million in the current quarter, far below average analyst expectations of $291 million, according to FactSet, and the company’s full-year guidance of $1.35 billion to $1.5 billion was below analysts’ expectations of $1.6 billion. GoPro also said that Brian McGee, previously of Qualcomm Inc. , would take over as CFO on March 11 for the retiring Jack Lazar. After being halted ahead of the news, GoPro shares fell 16% in after-hours trading to $9, which would be an all-time low for the stock.

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Oil futures gained more ground in electronic trading late Wednesday, with West Texas Intermediate crude prices trading at $32.74 a barrel, up from the $32.28 settlement on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Prices rose 8% during Wednesday’s regular session. The Petroenergy Information Network, or SHANA, which stands for its Persian acronym, reported Wednesday that Venezuela’s oil minister said six oil producing countries have agreed on a plan to hold an emergency meeting of members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and non-OPEC members. “Iran has agreed to take part in the meeting and Russia has already announced its agreement,” SHANA quoted Venezuela’s Eulogio del Pino as saying. The report made no mention of oil heavyweight Saudi Arabia, whose participation would be essential to any plan to cut output.

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Allstate Corp. shares ticked higher in the extended session Wednesday after the insurer topped Wall Street estimates for the quarter. Allstate shares rose 0.6% to $60 after hours. The company reported fourth-quarter operating earnings of $1.60 a share on $7.68 billion in premiums written. Analysts surveyed by FactSet had forecast operating earnings of $1.34 a share on premiums written of $7.6 billion.

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Yum Brands Inc. on Wednesday beat Wall Street sales and earnings expectations in the fourth quarter and said its China division system sales rose 7% in the quarter and worldwide system sales grew 6%. Yum said it earned an adjusted 68 cents a share in the fourth quarter, up from 61 cents in the year-ago period. Sales reached $3.95 billion, down slightly from $3.99 billion a year ago, the company said. Analysts polled by FactSet had expected adjusted earnings of 67 cents a share on sales of $2.69 billion. The company added more than 2,300 restaurants globally in 2015, and said it expects to open nearly 2,400 restaurants this year. “We are confident in our ability to deliver 10% operating profit growth in constant currency in 2016,” the company said in a statement. Yum shares fell 1.6% in late trading Wednesday after ending the day up 0.2%.

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Cisco Systems said Wednesday it intends to acquire Silicon Valley Internet of Things startup Jasper Technologies Inc. for $1.4 billion in cash. Jasper allows companies to manage connected objects through cellular networks with a cloud-based software program, and was valued at $1.4 billion in its most recent round of venture funding, according to The Wall Street Journal. “I am excited about the opportunity for Cisco and Jasper to accelerate how customers recognize the value of the Internet of Things,” Cisco Chief Executive Chuck Robbins said in the announcement. Jasper CEO Jahangir Mohammed will helm a new Cisco business unit focused on IoT software, reporting to senior vice president Rowan Trollope. The deal, which also includes assumed equity awards and retention-based incentives, is expected to close in the current fiscal quarter, Cisco said.

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