Tag: stock market

Shares of Chemours Co. used a late rally to close up 0.9% Friday, erasing earlier sharp losses, after the chemistry-based technology company announced a more than five-fold increase in its dividend and a new share repurchase agreement at its first investor day since the spinoff from Dupont. The company raised its quarterly dividend to 17 cents a share from 3 cents, payable March 15 to shareholders of record on Feb. 15. The company also authorized a $500 million share buyback program, which extends through 2020. Based on Friday’s closing price of $51.84, that could represent about 5.2% of the shares outstanding. The company said the new capital allocation strategy comes after the completion of transformation plan, which helped lower its debt position to a leverage ratio of two-times adjusted EBITDA, below its previously-announced leverage target of three-times. Earlier Friday, the stock fell as much as 5.2%, as the company’s 2018 free cash flow target of $500 million to $600 million was below some analyst expectations. The stock has now tacked on 3.7% over the past three months, but has more than doubled year to date, while the S&P 500 has gained 18% this year.

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Exxon Mobil Corp. said late Friday it will combine its refining and marketing divisions into a company called ExxonMobil Fuels & Lubricants Co. By combining ExxonMobil Refining and Supply Co. and ExxonMobil Fuels, Lubricants & Specialties Marketing Co., Exxon “will achieve further integration to improve decision making and enhance performance in the market. The improvements will help the company to better respond to the needs of its customers and compete more effectively,” it said in a statement. Bryan Milton, president of ExxonMobil Fuels, Lubricants & Specialties Marketing Co., has been appointed president of the new division. Shares of Exxon fell 0.1% in the late session after ending the regular trading day up 0.2%.

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Exxon Mobil Corp. said late Friday it will combine its refining and marketing divisions into a company called ExxonMobil Fuels & Lubricants Co. By combining ExxonMobil Refining and Supply Co. and ExxonMobil Fuels, Lubricants & Specialties Marketing Co., Exxon “will achieve further integration to improve decision making and enhance performance in the market. The improvements will help the company to better respond to the needs of its customers and compete more effectively,” it said in a statement. Bryan Milton, president of ExxonMobil Fuels, Lubricants & Specialties Marketing Co., has been appointed president of the new division. Shares of Exxon fell 0.1% in the late session after ending the regular trading day up 0.2%.

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Stocks fell Friday after former national security adviser Michael Flynn pleaded guilty to lying to FBI agents and said he would cooperate with a special counsel probe into possible Russian interference with the 2016 U.S. presidential election. But hopes the Senate would pass a tax bill were credited with helping stocks to erase much of the decline. The S&P 500 ended 0.2% lower near 2,642.22, but saw a weekly rise of 1.5%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average ended around 41 points lower after having fallen more than 300 points earlier in the session. The Dow saw a 2.9% weekly rise, its strongest of 2017. The Nasdaq Composite dropped 0.4% to close near 6,848, losing 0.6% for the week.

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U.S. oil prices settled higher Friday, finding support a day after the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and other major producers agreed to extend their production-cut agreement to the end of next year. However, concerns about growing output from producers who aren’t part of the deal, particularly the U.S., helped pull prices down by 1% for the week. That was the biggest weekly loss since the first week of October. January West Texas Intermediate crude rose 96 cents, or 1.7%, to settle at $58.36 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

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Amid allegations of corporate espionage and a delayed disclosure of a massive breach, two senior Uber Technologies Inc. security executives have resigned, and a third has taken medical leave, according to Reuters. The news of executives exiting the ride-hailing giant comes days after a stunning revelation during a federal civil lawsuit launched by Alphabet Inc. subsidiary Waymo which alleges a former Uber executive stole 14,000 confidential documents that Uber used to bolster its self-driving vehicle technology. Earlier this week, a former Uber executive testified in federal court about the existence of a unit within Uber called Market Analytics that, among other things, was charged with obtaining trade secrets and other competitive intelligence on rival firms. In November, the company also disclosed a data breach that affected 57 million driver and rider accounts and a $100,000 ransom payment to the hackers, which also included agreements not to make the breach public. Uber concealed the breach for more than a year.

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Rep. Maxine Waters, a Democrat from California and the ranking minority member of the House Financial Services Committee, on Friday said she was concerned about recent press reports a Justice Department criminal investigation into Russian trades made by Deutsche Bank has “gone dormant.” In a letter to the department, Waters demanded to know the present status of the investigation. Early this year, Deutsche Bank paid over $600 million to settle with U.S. and U.K. bank regulators over a scheme that involved more than 2,400 pairs of “mirrored” trades that regulators said lacked economic purpose and could have been used to move money out of Russia.

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Gold prices settled higher Friday, but still logged a loss for a second week in a row. Prices had climbed to highs above $1,292 after former U.S. national-security adviser, Michael Flynn, pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI. The news rattled investors’ nerves, raising demand for haven gold. February gold climbed $5.60, or 0.4%, to settle at $1,282.30 an ounce. The contract posted a weekly decline of 0.7%.

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A group of lawmakers in the House, including several prominent Democrats, introduced a bill to block a rule that would make it harder for Americans to obtain short-term loans from “payday lenders. These lenders make money available at high interest rates to millions of customers who typically are poor or have shaky credit. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau adopted a controversial rule last month that could put many payday lenders out of business or sharply curtail their businesses. The CFPB contends payday loans take advantage of borrowers and put them into deeper debt. Yet critics, including some Democrats, say the new CFPB rules go too far. In many cases borrowers unable to procure loans or cash checks at traditional banks would have no where else to turn if they could not go to a payday lender, critics contend.

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Shares of generic drug maker Lannett Co. Inc. surged 8% Friday, after the company’s said it has reached an exclusive agreement with Aralez Pharmaceuticals Inc. to distribute that company’s authorized generic version of Toprol-XL tablets in 25 mg, 50 mg, 100 mg and 200 mg dosages Toprol is a beta-blocker used as a treatment for high blood pressure, angina and heart failure. “Metoprolol Succinate is a widely prescribed medication and will be an important addition to our cardiovascular product offering,” Lannett Chief Executive Arthur Bedrosian said in a statment. Raymond James analyst Elliot Wilbur said the company is continuing a winning streak. “Given the unique nature of the respective market, we believe there exists an upside scenario for Lannett than simply what’s currently on the paper,” Wilbur wrote in a note. “Management has been on a nothing-but-execution mode since it introduced slightly better-than-expected FY18 guidance framework in August.” Raymond James views Lannett stock as undervalued, given its strong position to benefit from “favorable product-specific dynamics in 2018”. Wilbur reiterated an outperform rating on the stock, which has gained 30% in 2017, while the S&P 500 has gained 18%.

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