British bond yields slip after first U.K. rate hike in a decade

U.K. government bonds saw heavy buying, pulling yields lower, Thursday after the Bank of England raised rates for the first time in a decade. The U.K. 10-year government bond yield fell 5.8 basis points to 1.287%. Seven out of nine members of the BOE’s policy-making panel voted for hiking its benchmark interest rate to 0.5% from 0.25%. Despite a move that would ostensibly tighten monetary policy, which tends to be bearish for bonds, U.K. government paper attracted money after the policy statement said future rate hikes would arrive “at a gradual pace and to a limited extent.” Britain’s expected departure from the European Union’s membership, or Brexit, has weighed on economic growth while propelling inflation higher.

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Ralph Lauren earnings and revenue beat

Ralph Lauren Corp. reported fiscal second-quarter net income of $143.8 million, or $1.75 per share, up from $45.7 million, or 55 cents per share, for the same period last year. Adjusted earnings were $1.99 per share, ahead of the FactSet consensus of $1.89 per share. Revenue totaled $1.66 billion, down from $1.82 billion, but ahead of the $1.64 billion FactSet consensus. Revenue decreased 9% due to initiatives to reduce promotional activity, and brand and distribution exits, the company said. Revenue in North America fell by 16% to $877 million for these reasons as well. The luxury clothing and accessories company continues to expect a revenue decline of 8% to 9% for fiscal 2018, and a 6%-to-8% decrease in third-quarter revenue. Shares are down 0.5% in Thursday premarket trading, and down 8.5% for the last year. Shares are up 18.5% for the last three months, outpacing the S&P 500 index , which is up 4.1% for the past three months.

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Bank of England raises key interest rate to 0.5%, first hike in 10 years

The Bank of England on Thursday raised its key interest rate by a quarter-percentage point to 0.5%, meeting widely held expectations for the first rate hike to be enacted since July 2007. The Monetary Policy Committee voted 7-2 to raise the rate, a move that comes as inflation sits at 3% and British economic growth has slowed. “There remain considerable risks to the outlook, which include the response of households, businesses and financial markets to developments related to the process of EU withdrawal,” the bank said in a statement. The central bank left unchanged the size of its asset purchase program at £435 billion ($574 billion) and its corporate-bond purchase program at £10 billion. The pound dropped to $1.3129 from $1.3216 ahead of the decision. Sterling late Wednesday traded at $1.3246.

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UPDATE: Taco Bell, KFC parent Yum Brands tops estimates, reiterates outlook

Yum Brands Inc. said Thursday it had net income of $418 million, or $1.18 a share, in the third quarter, down from $640 million, or 55 cents a share, in the year-earlier period. The year-earlier number includes $422 million of income from discontinued operations, after the company spun off its Yum China business in October of 2016. Revenue fell to $1.436 billion from $1.518 billion. The FactSet consensus was for EPS of 67 cents and revenue of $1.387 billion. “We are maintaining our full-year 2017 guidance and remain on-track with our multi-year transformation strategy,” Chief Executive Greg Creed said in a statement. Sales at KFC rose 7%, while sales at Taco Bell rose 6% and Pizza Hut sales were up 3%. Shares were not yet active premarket, but have gained 17% in 2017, while the S&P 500 has gained 15%.

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Wayfair shares sink 10% after losses widen

Wayfair Inc. shares sank 10% in Thursday premarket trading after the online home goods company reported losses that were bigger than expected. Wayfair reported a net loss of $76.4 million, or 88 cents per share, compared with a loss of $60.9 million, or 72 cents per share, for the same period last year. The adjusted loss was 65 cents per share, greater than the FactSet consensus for a 46-cents loss. Revenue totaled $1.20 billion, up from $861.5 million, just below the $1.21 billion FactSet consensus. The number of active users reached 10.3 million as of Sept. 30, up 39.2% year-over-year. And average order value was $250 for the third quarter, up from $244 last year. Wayfair shares are up 132.8% for the last year while the S&P 500 index is up 23% for the period.

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Newell Brands stock tumbles after profit and sales miss, lowered outlook

Shares of Newell Brands Inc. tumbled 7.6% in premarket trade Thursday, after the consumer goods company, which brand include Paper Mate, Rubbermaid and Graco, missed third-quarter profit and sales expectations and cut its guidance, while announcing a $1 billion stock buyback program. Net income rose to $234.4 million, or 48 cents a share, from $186.5 million, or 38 cents a share, in the same period a year ago. Excluding non-recurring items, adjusted earnings per share came to 86 cents, missing the FactSet consensus of 92 cents. Revenue fell 7.0% to $3.68 billion, below the FactSet consensus of $3.71 billion. “Newell Brands third quarter results were below expectations as our transformation progress was overshadowed by weak late-quarter sales related to retailer inventory rebalancing, primarily in response to decelerating U.S. market growth through the Back-to-School period,” said Chief Executive Michael Polk. The company cut its 2017 adjusted EPS outlook to $2.80 to $2.85 from $3.00 to $3.20 and its revenue outlook to $14.7 billion to $14.8 billion from $14.8 billion to $15.0 billion. Separately, the company extended and expanded its share repurchase program to $1 billion through the end of 2020. The stock has tumbled 22% over the past three months through Wednesday, while the S&P 500 has gained 4.1%.

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Blue Apron shares gain premarket after company reports revenue above expectations

Shares of Blue Apron Holdings Inc. rose as much as 7% in premarket trade on Thursday after the company reported better-than-expected revenue for the third quarter. Blue Apron reported a net loss of $87.2 million, or a loss of 47 cents per share for the quarter, compared with a loss of $37.4 million, or 56 cents loss per share for the same period a year ago. FactSet’s consensus was for a 44 cents loss per share. Revenue for the quarter was $210.6 million, up from last year’s $205.5 million, and above FactSet’s $191.0 million consensus. The meal prep delivery service said that the number of customers dropped 6% year-over-year and 9% quarter-over-quarter. Blue Apron said that was due to a planned decrease in marketing spend as it shifts focus to improving operations. “We are now focused on optimizing our operations so that we can drive progress on our product roadmap,” said Chief Executive Matt Salzberg in a statement. Average revenue per customer increased to $245, from $227 a year ago. Shares of Blue Apron have declined nearly 25% in the last three months, while the S&P 500 index is up more than 4% and the Dow Jones Industrial Average is up more than 6% during the same three-month span.

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AutoNation beats on profit, but still blames Hurricane Irma

AutoNation, Inc. on Thursday blamed the recent hurricanes as it reported net income that was lower than a year ago. Net income came to $97.5 million, and per-share earnings were $1.00, compared to $107.3 million and $1.05 per share a year ago. That beat FactSet’s consensus of $84 million and 84 cents per share. Total revenue for the quarter was $5.43 billion, versus $5.57 billion a year ago but below the $5.6 billion forecast by FactSet analysts. Unit same-store sales were 25 higher than a year ago, the company said, but it also noted that Hurricane Irma dented net income by about $8 million after-tax, or 8 cents per share. The company also said it had struck a multi-year agreement with Waymo to collaborate on self-driving car technologies. Shares are 2.2% lower for the year, versus a 15.2% gain for the S&P 500 .

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Report that U.S. corporate tax cut could be temporary hits stock futures, dollar

Lawmaker comments that any corporate tax cut will have to be temporary, at least as written in a current proposed bill, nicked stock futures and helped drag the dollar lower in early trading Thursday. House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Kevin Brady, a Texas Republican, has said that the bill he will introduce would not permanently lower the corporate tax rate to 20%. Instead, the cut would be temporary, and that reduction would expire in around eight years, the Washington Post reported, citing a person briefed on the planning who wasn’t authorized to disclose details. Brady said he had to make changes to keep his upcoming bill in line with rules Republicans need to abide by if they hope to pass the measure through the Senate without Democratic support, according to the report. Brady added he hopes to make changes during negotiations with the Senate at some point to make the cuts long-term, but at this time he is unable to propose a permanent cut, the paper said. In citing the market pullback, analysts at GKFX said, “This implies that a tax proposal with a temporary corporate cut will revert back to the original 35% tax rate after a decade. President Trump cited previously that this temporary cut proposal would limit its ability to spur economic growth.” The slump in equities dragged the greenback sharply lower, the analysts noted. Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average [S: YMZ7] fell 14 points, or 0.1%, to 23,358, while those for the S&P 500 index gave up 1.80 points, or 0.1%, to 2,573. Futures for the Nasdaq-100 index [S:NQZ7] lost 10.25 points, or 0.2%, to 6,230.25. The S&P 500 and Dow industrials hit intraday records during Wednesday’s session and ended higher, a few points shy of their all-time closing highs.

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Former Yahoo CEO, Equifax CEO to testify at Senate hearing on data breaches

Marissa Mayer, the former chief executive of Yahoo Inc., and the current and former CEOs of Equifax Inc. will testify about their respective companies’ massive data breaches next week before a U.S. Senate panel. The Senate Commerce Committee announced late Wednesday that Mayer, who departed in June after Verizon Communications Inc. completed its acquisition of the company, will speak along with Equifax’s interim CEO Paulino Barros, its former CEO, Richard Smith, Verizon’s chief privacy officer, Karen Zacharia, and Entrust Datacard Corp. CEO Todd Wilkinson. “Massive data breaches have touched the vast majority of American consumers,” Sen. John Thune, R-S.D., said in a statement. “When such breaches occur, urgent action is necessary to protect sensitive personal information. This hearing will give the public the opportunity to hear from those in charge.” Yahoo and Equifax were the victims of two of the largest data breaches in history. Equifax announced earlier this year that personal information, including Social Security numbers, of more than 145 million people were exposed. Verizon said earlier this month that a previously disclosed Yahoo hack in 2013 affected every single Yahoo customer — roughly 3 billion accounts.

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