Tag: stock market

U.S. stock-market indexes closed at records on Monday after the Senate approved a procedural bill that would allow the government to end a multiday shutdown. The S&P 500 rose 22.67 points, or 0.8%, to 2,832.97. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite index advanced 71.65 points, or 1%, to 7,408.03, largely fueled by gains in biotech shares. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose by 142.95 points, or 0.6%, to 26,214.67. All three indexes closed at record levels after setting intraday all-time highs. Among the best performers on Wall Street, shares of FirstEnergy Corp shot up 10% after the Ohio-based utility company raised $2.5 billion in a private stock offering from a group led by activist investor Elliott Management Corp. and private-equity firm Bluescape.

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From:: Stock Market News

Oil prices settled higher Monday as comments from Saudi Arabia’s energy minister raised the potential for an extension of the production-cut agreement beyond its expiration at the end of this year. February West Texas Intermediate crude , which expired at the settlement, rose 25 cents, or 0.4%, to settle at $63.62 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. March WTI crude , which is now the front-month futures contract, settled at $63.57 a barrel, up 26 cents, or 0.4%.

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Rupert Murdoch, the executive chairman of News Corp., wants Facebook Inc. and Alphabet Inc.’s Google to pay trusted publishers of news a fee to carry their journalism. “There has been much discussion about subscription models but I have yet to see a proposal that truly recognizes the investment in and the social value of professional journalism,” Murdoch said in a statement. Facebook, over the last year has come under fire for allowing special interest groups to flood its feeds with false information and made up content. The company has made recent efforts to ease concerns and promote community trusted news sources. “If Facebook wants to recognize ‘trusted’ publishers then it should pay those publishers a carriage fee similar to the model adopted by cable companies,” Murdoch said. “The publishers are obviously enhancing the value and integrity of Facebook through their news and content but are not being adequately rewarded for those services.” MarketWatch is a unit of News Corp, which shares ownership with 21st Century Fox. Shares of Facebook are up more than 42% in the last 12 months and Alphabet shares have gained more than 40%. By comparison, the S&P 500 index is up nearly 25% and the Dow Jones Industrial Average is up 32%.

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The Pennsylvania Supreme Court on Monday rejected a Republican-draw map of the state’s 18 congressional districts, potentially giving Democrats a chance to win more seats in November 2018 in their bid to win control of the U.S. House. The court, composed of five Democrats and two Republicans, voted 4-3 to throw out a map created in 2011 when Republicans controlled all branches of government. The court said the gerrymandered map violates the state’s constitution and it ordered that a replacement be drawn up by next month. Republicans are likely to appeal and even try to push the matter to the U.S. Supreme Court, but it’s unclear if the nation’s top court would hold any jurisdiction. Republicans control 13 of the 18 congressional seats in Pennsylvania, a swing state where registered Democrats outnumber Republicans by 4 million to 3.2 million.

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Gold prices ended modestly lower Monday after the Senate approved a bill to end the U.S. government shutdown, easing uncertainty among financial markets. U.S. stocks traded broadly higher and the U.S. dollar traded off its session lows, dulling haven demand for the precious metal. February gold fell $1.20, or nearly 0.1%, to settle at $1,331.90 an ounce.

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The Dow Jones Industrial Average on Monday hit a fresh all-time intraday high after New York Sen. Chuck Schumer indicated that there were sufficient votes to clear the way to end of a government shutdown that had entered its third day. “We will vote today to reopen the government,” Schumer said on the Senate floor. The Dow climbed 78 points, or 0.3%, at 26,151, briefly setting an intrasession record at 26,156.53. The blue-chip gauge had been under pressure in the early part of the session but broke higher on the news that the end of the multiday session, at least temporarily, may be near. The S&P 500 index and the Nasdaq Composite Index also climbed to their highs of the day, carving out fresh intraday records. The S&P 500 was up 0.5% at 2,824, while the technology-laden Nasdaq was 0.7% higher at 7,389. Both the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq has set all-time intraday peaks near the start of trade on modest gains. According to reports, Democrats agreed to a short-term pause in their standoff with Republicans over immigration policy.

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From:: Stock Market News

The Dow Jones Industrial Average on Monday traded near its highs of the day after reports suggested that there was sufficient votes to clear the way to end of a government shutdown that has entered its third day. The Dow climbed 75 points, or 0.3%, at 26,147. The blue-chip gauge had been under pressure in the early part of the session but broke higher on the news that the end of the multiday session, at least temporarily, may be near. The S&P 500 index and the Nasdaq Composite Index also climbed to their highs of the day, carving out fresh intraday records. The S&P 500 was up 0.5% at 2,823, while the technology-laden Nasdaq was 0.7% higher at 7,387. Both the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq has set all-time intraday peaks near the start of trade on modest gains. According to reports, Democrats agreed to a short-term pause in their standoff with Republicans over immigration policy.

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The Securities and Exchange Commission and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York announced charges on Monday against six certified public accountants – five former KPMG partners and one former staffer at the audit regulator, the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board. They allegedly misappropriated and used confidential information relating to the PCAOB’s planned inspections of KPMG audits. The SEC alleges that the misconduct allegedly began in 2015 when former PCAOB officials made unauthorized downloads of the regulator’s plans for inspections of KPMG audits, enabling the former KPMG partners to revise audit workpapers to mimimize negative inspection results. Soon after the conduct was discovered in early 2017, the six respondents were terminated, resigned or placed on leave before separating from KPMG and the PCAOB, respectively. SEC Chairman Jay Clayton in a statement said that the alleged conduct is “disturbing” but he does not currently believe that this will adversely affect the ability of companies to continue to use audit reports issued by KPMG or for investors to rely upon those reports.

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As the U.S. government shutdown continues into a third day, a spokesman for the Energy Information Administration told MarketWatch Monday that the agency is “continuing normal data collection and publications schedules until further notice.” The EIA will be “able to operate for a short period of time during the lapse in appropriations,” said spokesman Jonathan Cogan. Its website will continue to be updated and publications will continue to be released as scheduled, he said. That would include the weekly U.S. petroleum status report due out Wednesday. Following the shutdown in 2013, the EIA halted operations and delayed the release of weekly reports on energy supplies and production. On the New York Mercantile Exchange, February West Texas Intermediate oil rose 5 cents to $63.42 a barrel.

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Shares of Juniper Networks Inc. rose 1.7% in Monday morning trading after analysts at Oppenheimer upgraded the stock to outperform from perform. The analysts, led by Ittai Kidron, wrote in a note to clients that Amazon.com Inc. weakness appears “temporary.” He added: “Industry checks suggest that recent Amazon weakness isn’t due to a competitive displacement,” Kidron wrote, but rather due to a number of factors such as construction delays at an Amazon data center and a change to the number of switch layers. “While it could take a few more quarters to fully digest, we see improvement” in the second half of 2018, Kidron wrote. He sees tax changes potentially resulting in an additional $100 million in annual free cash flow for the company, which could prompt share buybacks. Juniper shares are up 1.6% over the past 12 months, while the S&P 500 is up 24% in that time.

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