Tag: stock market

The European Central Bank, as expected, left interest rates unchanged Thursday. The bank’s refi rate stands at 0.05%, while the rate paid on deposits held overnight at the ECB remains at minus 0.3%. The rate on the bank’s marginal lending facility remains at 0.3%. ECB President Mario Draghi will hold a news conference at the ECB’s Frankfurt headquarters at 2:30 p.m. local time, or 8:30 a.m. Eastern. Draghi isn’t expected to announce any further easing measures but is widely expected to signal the ECB is prepared to take further steps if necessary to boost inflation.

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Verizon Communications Inc. shares saw a slight uptick after the company reported better-than-expected earnings for its fiscal fourth quarter. Net income was $5.51 billion, or $1.32 earnings per share, after a net loss of $2.14 billion, or per-share loss of 54 cents in the same quarter a year ago. Adjusted earnings per share were 89 cents, just above the FactSet consensus of 88 cents. The wireless internet, phone and cable provider reported revenue hit $34.25 billion during the quarter, up more than 3% compared with last year’s $33.18 billion. The FactSet consensus for revenue was $34.11 billion. Verizon said it added 99,000 new Fios Internet customers and brought in 20,000 new video customers.

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Travelers Companies Inc. reported Thursday fourth-quarter earnings that fell to $866 million, or $2.83 a share, from $1.04 billion, or $3.11 a share, in the same period a year ago. Operating earnings per share came to $2.90. The FactSet EPS consensus was $2.67. Total revenue fell 2% to $6.67 billion, compared with the FactSet consensus of $6.79 billion. Net premiums were little changed at $5.86 billion, just shy of the FactSet consensus of $5.94 billion. The insurer said earnings declined from a year ago due primarily to the impact of low interest rates and lower energy prices. “Underwriting results for both the quarter and the year, which were strong across all of our businesses, continued to benefit from our superior execution in risk selection and pricing, as well as lower than expected catastrophe losses,” said Chief Executive Alan Schnitzer. The stock, which edged up 0.7% in light premarket trade, has lost 6.4% over the past three months while the Dow Jones Industrial Average has dropped 8.2%.

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Wall Street could potentially see another volatile session on Thursday, as stock futures swung from negative to positive ground. As in recent sessions, Asia markets fell overnight and losses for oil picked up, which triggered a 100-point loss for Dow Jones Industrial Average at the start of European trading. Those losses were pared back and DJIA futures last fell 18 points to 15,704, while S&P 500 futures dropped 0.1 point to 1,855.25. Nasdaq 100 futures fell 2.5 points to 4,128. In Asia, the Nikkei 225 index gave up an early lead to close down 2.4% in a volatile session in which the Shanghai Composite is down 3.2%. U.S. crude oil also pared losses, last down 11 cents to $28.24 a barrel, and Brent crude was off 11 cents to $27.77 a barrel.

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U.S. stock futures pointed to a much weaker start for Wall Street on Thursday. As in recent sessions, Asia markets fell overnight and losses for oil are also picking up, creating a risk-off environment for investors. Dow Jones Industrial Average futures slid 123 points, or 0.8%, to 15,595, while S&P 500 futures dropped 16.4 points, or 0.9%, to 1,838.50. Nasdaq 100 futures fell 35.75 points, or 0.9%, to 4,098. In Asia, the Nikkei 225 index gave up an early lead to close down 2.4% in a volatile session in which the Shanghai Composite is down 3.2%. U.S. crude oil was hovering at $28 a barrel, down 1%, and Brent crude slid 24 cents, or 0.9%, to $27.66 a barrel.

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Elevate Credit Inc. will postpone its initial public offering that was due to price on Thursday, Dow Jones reported late Wednesday, citing sources close to the matter. Elevate would have been the first IPO of 2016 and was expected to price about 3.6 million shares between $20 and $22. The lender, which has been likened to an online payday lender, uses proprietary technology to offer “approval in seconds.”

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Twitter Inc. shares soared as much as 12.5% Wednesday in afternoon trade Wednesday, after falling as much as 7.2% to a record low earlier in the session. Shares closed up 4.2%. The shares rose amid speculation that News Corp. , the parent of MarketWatch, had bought a stake in Twitter, said James Cakmak, an analyst at Monness Crespi Hardt. “No idea if true or not but that’s the chatter right now,” Cakmak wrote in an email. News Corp. denied the rumor. Volume as of 2 p.m. ET was 46 million shares, more than double the full-day average of 19.8 million shares, according to FactSet

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LifeLock Inc. shares fell in Wednesday’s extended session after the identity theft protection company announced that founder Todd Davis resigned as chief executive and released preliminary 2015 corporate results. Davis will be succeeded by Hilary Schneider, president of LifeLock, on March 1. LifeLock also said its 2015 adjusted earnings per share are likely to come in between 62 cents to 63 cents while revenue is projected in a range of $586 million to $587 million. Analysts surveyed by FactSet had forecast 2015 EPS of 62 cents and revenue of $585.6 million. Shares of LifeLock were down 3.1% in after hours trading.

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The American Petroleum Institute late Wednesday reported that crude supplies climbed by 4.6 million barrels for the week ended Jan. 15, according to sources who reviewed the report. The more closely watched Energy Information Administration report is due Thursday. Data were delayed this week due to Monday’s holiday. On average, analysts polled by Platts show expectations for a crude supply increase of 2.9 million barrels. Following the API data, March crude was at $28.31 a barrel in electronic trading, down from the $28.35 settlement on Nymex.

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Shares of Kinder Morgan Inc. fell Wednesday after the oil and gas infrastructure company reported a fourth-quarter loss $637 million, or 29 cents a share, versus earnings of $126 million, or 8 cents a share, in the year-ago period. Kinder Morgan’s revenue hit $3.64 billion in the quarter, down from $3.95 billion in the fourth quarter of 2014. Analysts polled by FactSet had expected the oil and gas pipeline company to report earnings of 16 cents a share on sales of $3.91 billion. The company’s board of directors approved a quarterly cash dividend of 12.5 cents payable on Feb. 15, down from 51 cents a share in the third quarter. Kinder Morgan reported distributable cash flow of $1.23 billion, down from $1.27 billion in the year-ago period. The FactSet analysts had expected the company to report distributable cash flow of $1.19 billion for the quarter. Shares declined 2% in late trading Wednesday after ending the regular session down 4.3%.

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