WTI oil books best one-day gain since August

Oil futures rocketed higher on Friday, stretching their rally to a second straight session and marking the best one-day jump since August, according to FactSet data. March West Texas Intermediate crude finished at $32.19 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. It rose $2.66, or 9%, for the session. For the week, it gained 9.4% based on Friday’s closing level for the February contract, which expired Wednesday.

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One death, 12 hospitalizations tied to listeria found in Dole packaged salad, says CDC

One person has died and 12 have been hospitalized by a multistate listeria outbreak that has been tied to Dole packaged salads, according to the Centers for Disease Control. The 12 infected people come from Indiana, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania. The CDC has been working with public health officials since Sept. 2015 to investigate the outbreak, it said in a statement. The Ohio Department of Agriculture found the listeria in Dole branded Field Greens salad, which was made in a Springfield, OH Dole processing center. Epidemiologic and lab evidence points to that single facility as the likely source of the outbreak. The salad was also sold under the Dole, Fresh Selections, Simple Truth, Marketside, The Little Salad Bar and President’s Choice brand names. Dole reported to the CDC that it had stopped production in the Springfield facility on Thursday, and the company is currently pulling all salads produced there from the market. There is no evidence that packaged salads produced at other Dole facilities in the U.S. are tied to the illness.

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United plane skids off runway at Chicago O’Hare airport

WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) – A United Airlines flight partially skidded off the runway after landing at Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport in snowy conditions, according to several news reports. Officials said no one was reported injured on the Boeing 737 plane, United’s flight #734 from San Francisco.

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Gold futures gain 0.5% for the week

Gold futures settled with a modest loss on Friday, as a rally in U.S. equities helped dull interest in the metal. Prices still ended the week 0.5% higher ahead of a Federal Reserve monetary policy meeting that concludes Wednesday. February gold fell $1.90, or 0.2%, to settle at $1,096.30 an ounce on Comex.

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Baker Hughes reports U.S. oil rig count down by 5

Oil prices continued to trade higher after data from Baker Hughes showed that the number of active U.S. oil-drilling rigs fell by 5 to 510 as of Friday. The total active U.S. rig count, which includes natural-gas rigs, was down 13 at 637. Compared to last year, the total U.S. rig count has fallen by 996, with oil rigs down by 807. March crude was at $31.70 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, up $2.17, or 7.3%. It was at $31.57 before the data.

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Starbucks closing four Teavana locations in New York and Beverly Hills

Starbucks Corp. said it’s closing four Teavana locations in New York and California. Teavana is the Starbucks brand focused on tea. Three locations in New York will be converted to Starbucks stores and a Beverly Hills location that’s adjacent to a Starbucks will shut down. There are 350 Teavana locations total. The company said it will help staffers affected by the closures find new positions at nearby Teavana or Starbucks locations. Starbucks shares are down 0.6% in Friday trading, but up 41.8% for the past 12 months. The S&P is down 8% for the past year. See also: Starbucks outlook is bright as investmetns in tech and salaries pay off

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S&P upgrades Greece’s credit rating to ‘B-‘, outlook stable

Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services on Friday raised Greece’s sovereign credit rating to B- from CCC+, noting that the government is “broadly” complying with the terms of its 86-billion euro financial aid program. The ratings agency also expects Greece to meet the conditions of the bailout by the end of March, paving the way for an official debt relief effort. “Our prognosis for the Greek economy is for one more year of essentially flat growth, followed by a more robust recovery,” said the ratings agency in a statement, noting that the economy has proven to be more resilient than expected. The outlook on the rating is stable. B-grade rating is generally referred to as “speculative” while CCC-grade is viewed as “may default” in the credit market.

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Flash U.S. manufacturing PMI rebounds in January

WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) — A reading of manufacturing sentiment rebounded in January after hitting a 38-month low in December, according to data released Friday. The flash manufacturing purchasing managers’ index from Markit rose to a reading of 52.7 from 51.2 in December. Output and orders picked up in January after slowing late last year. But job creation fell to a four-month low and manufacturers cut inventories. The flash estimate is typically based on approximately 85%-90% of total PMI survey responses each month.

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Stocks open higher, on track for weekly gains

U.S. stocks opened higher on Friday, on track for their first weekly gains in four weeks, as oil prices rebounded. Oil and global stocks got a boost after hints Thursday by the European Central Bank that more stimulus could be in store in March. The S&P 500 opened 23 points, or 1.3%, higher at 1,893. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 216 points, or 1.3%, to 16,0964. Meanwhile, the Nasdaq Composite began the day up 84 points, or 1.9%, at 4,555.

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Cigna’s stock drops after CMS imposes sanctions

Cigna Corp.’s stock slid 3% in premarket trade Friday, after the insurer said the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) was imposing sanctions to suspend the enrollment of new customers in Cigna Medicare Advantage and Standalone Prescription Drug Plan contracts. The sanctions follow the discovery by the CMS of deficiencies with Cigna’s appeals and grievances, formulary and benefit administration and compliance programs, Cigna disclosed in a regulatory filing. Cigna said it was cooperating fully with the CMS to resolve these matters. The stock has climbed 8.2% over the past three months through Thursday, while the S&P 500 has lost 8.9%.

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