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U.S. stocks opened slightly higher on Friday but the main indexes were still looking to book modest weekly losses. The S&P 500 was up 8 points, or 0.4%, at 1,901. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 96 points, or 0.6%, to 16,162. Meanwhile, the Nasdaq Composite began the day up 8 points, or 0.2%, at 4,515.
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From:: Stock Market News
BlackBerry Ltd.’s stock ran up 3.1% in premarket trade Friday, after the smartphone maker said it received regulatory approval to more than double the number of shares it can repurchase. The company said it can now buy back 27 million shares, or 5.8% of the public float, up from 12 million shares, or 2.5% of the float. Under Toronto Stock Exchange rules for normal course issuer bids, BlackBerry is allowed to buy back a maximum of 578,619 shares, or 25% of the average daily trading volume. The stock has plunged 26% so far this year, and 3.5% over the past three months, while the S&P 500 has lost 7.4% year to date and 9.4% in three months.
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Darden Restaurants Inc. , the company that owns Olive Garden, The Capital Grille, Longhorn Steakhouse, and other chains, was downgraded to underperform from market perform at Raymond James. Analysts have grown more cautious about the restaurant stocks they follow on concerns that sales could turn negative in the coming weeks on tough same-store sales comparisons, they wrote in a note published Friday. Raymond James also sees risk in the stock market volatility, a slowing in retail sales (excluding autos, gas, foodservice and building materials) and the possibility of a recession following weakness in the U.S. industrial sector. The bank also downgraded Mexican restaurant chain Chuy Holdings Inc. to market perform from outperform. It maintains its strong buy rating on Fiesta Restaurant Group Inc. , Red Robin Gourmet Burgers Inc. and Carrols Restaurant Group Inc. , which operates more than 700 Burger King restaurants. Darden shares are inactive in premarket trading, but are up 13.6% for the past 12 months. The S&P is down 6.3% for the same period.
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The dollar strengthened against its main rivals Friday after official data showed U.S. gross domestic product rising in line with economists’ expectations in the fourth quarter. The dollar strengthened to 121.26 yen after the data, from 121.03 yen shortly before. The euro fell to $1.0891, from $1.0916 beforehand. The pound fell to $1.4256, from $1.4294. “Traders are a little bit relieved that the pressure on price levels wasn’t worse,” said Matt Weller, a senior technical analyst at Forex.com. “It’s not a great report, but it’s not as bad as some expected.” Investors’ anxiety surrounding the GDP report intensified this week after a spate of surprisingly weak reports on manufacturing and consumer spending hinted that growth might’ve shrank in the fourth quarter.
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From:: Stock Market News
Chevron Corp. said Friday it swung to a fourth-quarter loss of $588 million, or 31 cents a share, battered by the low price of oil. The company had earnings of $3.5 billion, or $1.85 a share, in the year-earlier period. Revenue came to $28 billion, down from $42 billion a year ago. The FactSet consensus was for EPS of 45 cents and revenue of $27.7 billion. “Our 2015 earnings were down significantly from the previous year, reflecting a nearly 50 percent year-on-year decline in crude oil prices, ” Chief Executive John Watson said in a statement. The company is taking steps to improve earnings, cutting costs and selling assets. “I expect similarly large reductions again in 2016,” said Watson. “In addition, asset sales proceeds were $6 billion in 2015, with additional sales planned for 2016 and 2017.” Shares fell 1.4% in premarket trade, and are down 17% in the last 12 months, while the S&P 500 has fallen 6.3%.
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MasterCard Inc. said net income increased for the fourth quarter 2015 to $890 million, or 79 cents per share, from $801 million, or 69 cents per share, for the same period last year. The FactSet consensus was 69 cents per share. Revenue increased 4% to $2.5 billion, below the FactSet consensus of $2.6 billion. MasterCard said revenue growth was driven by a 12% increase in gross dollar volume, on a local currency basis, to $1.2 trillion, a 12% increase in processed transactions to $13 billion, and a 12% increase in cross-border volume. MasterCard shares are up 0.7% in premarket trading, but up 2.5% for the past 12 months. The S&P is down 6.3% for the past year.
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Gilead Sciences Inc.’s said Friday in pre-market trade that chairman and 20-year chief executive officer John Martin will become the company’s executive chairman, effective March 10. He will be replaced by president and chief operating officer John Milligan, who will become CEO and join the company’s board of directors. The biopharmaceutical company’s stock was down 2.5% in light pre-market trade.
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AbbVie shares fell 4% in pre-market trade Friday. AbbVie reported fourth-quarter net income of $1.52 billion, or 92 cents per share, compared to a loss of $810 million, or a loss of 51 cents per share, in the year-earlier period. Abbvie reported adjusted earnings per share of $1.13, above the FactSet consensus of $1.12. The company reported net revenue of $6.40 billion and adjusted revenue of $6.36 billion, up from $5.45 billion in the year-earlier period. The FactSet consensus was $6.38 billion. The company confirmed its 2016 guidance of adjusted EPS of $4.90 to $5.10.
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Colgate-Palmolive Company said Friday it had a fourth quarter loss of $458 million, or 51 cents a share, after earnings of $628 million, or 68 cents a share, in the same period a year ago. Excluding charges, the company had EPS of 73 cents a share, ahead of the FactSet consensus of 72 cents per share. Sales fell 7.5% to $3.9 billion, matching the FactSet consensus. The company said it took a $1.1 billion charge relating to a change in accounting for its Venezuela operations. The company said it expects full-year EPS to decline in the low single digits, including a 10 cents hit from the Venezuela accounting change. Shares were not yet active in premarket trade, but are down 5.8% in the last 12 months, while the S&P 500 has lost 6.3%.
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Amazon.com Inc.’s stock is on course to suffer on Friday the biggest-ever one-day price drop since the online retailing giant went public in May 1997. The stock’s premarket plunge–down $58.35, or 9.2%–follows disappointing fourth-quarter results out late Wednesday. Until Friday, the biggest price drop was the $44.32 tumble (11%) it suffered on Jan. 31, 2014, according to FactSet data, while the next-biggest was the $38.90 (5.8%) slide on Jan. 4, 2016. The biggest percentage selloff was 25% ($3.97) on July 24, 2001. Through Wednesday, Amazon shares had gained 1.4% over the past three months while the S&P 500 had lost 9.4%.
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.
From:: Stock Market News