Tag: stock market

Oil prices moved slightly lower Wednesday after the U.S. Energy Information Administration said crude supplies rose by 5 million barrels for the week ended March 9. Analysts surveyed by S&P Global Platts had forecast a climb of 2.5 million barrels, while the American Petroleum Institute on Tuesday reported a rise of nearly 1.2 million barrels, according to sources. Gasoline stockpiles, however, dropped 6.3 million barrels for the week, while distillate stockpiles lost 4.4 million barrels, according to the EIA. The S&P Global Platts survey forecast supply declines of 500,000 barrels for gasoline and 1.6 million barrels for distillates. April crude fell 10 cents, or 0.2%, to $60.61 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, down from $60.95 before the supply data.

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The Securities and Exchange Commission and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Georgia announced civil and criminal insider trading charges against Jun Ying, who allegedly used confidential information entrusted to him by the company to conclude that Equifax had suffered a serious breach. The SEC alleges that before Equifax’s public disclosure of the data breach, Ying exercised all of his vested Equifax stock options and then sold the shares, reaping proceeds of nearly $1 million. According to the complaint, by selling before public disclosure of the data breach, Ying avoided more than $117,000 in losses. Despite the breach, shares of Equifax have risen by 4.7% so far in 2018, compared with a gain of 0.9% for the Dow Jones Industrial Average and a rise of 3.4% for the S&P 500 index over the same period, according to FactSet data.

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Denny’s Corp. said Wednesday that it has partnered with Amazon.com Inc.’s to expand its Denny’s on Demand digital ordering to Amazon Alexa. The restaurant chain launched Denny’s on Demand last May and has since delivered 1.3 million orders. Denny’s shares are nearly flat in Wednesday trading, and up 21% for the year to date. The S&P 500 index is up 3.4% for the period.

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Business inventories in the U.S. rose 0.6% in January, the Commerce Department said Wednesday. Inventories in December were also revised up to a 0.6% gain from the prior estimate of 0.4%. Sales fell 0.2% in the month after a 0.5% gain in December. The rise in inventories and the drop in sales brought up the ratio of inventories to sales to 1.34 in January from 1.33 in the prior month. That’s how many months it would take to sell all the inventory on hand. One year ago, the ratio was 1.37. Auto inventories jumped 1.7% in January after falling 0.3% in December.

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S&P Global Ratings downgraded Ann Taylor parent Ascena Retail Group Inc.’s rating to B from B-plus on Wednesday, after the women’s apparel retailer reported declines in same-store sales and margins in its recent fiscal second-quarter earnings. “We expect Ascena’s operating performance to remain challenged because of the company’s lack of operating capabilities to effectively adapt to the sustained structural changes in the specialty apparel industry,” S&P analyst Mathew Christy wrote in a note. The outlook on the rating is negative, meaning the agency could downgrade it again in the medium term. S&P is expecting operating trends and credit metrics to remain negative, even though it expects Ascena to pay down some debt with repatriated cash. Ann Taylor and Dressbarn are expected to continue to post negative same-store sales, which will weigh against “modestly positive” trends at Justice and Lane Bryant. “Although the company continues to execute on its operating initiatives, such as product procurement and back-office function consolidation, we believe its omnichannel capabilities, store experience, and loyalty programs lag behind peers’,” said Christy. “As such, the company will likely continue to be reliant on discounting to drive traffic, which we expect to further pressure margins.” Shares were up 1% on Wednesday, but have fallen 50% in the last 12 months, while the S&P 500 has gained 17%.

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Ford Motor Co. said Wednesday it was issuing a safety recall of about 1.38 million vehicles in North America, including 1.30 million vehicles in the U.S., for potentially loose steering wheel bolts after reports of two accidents and one injury. The affected vehicles include 2014 to 2017 Ford Fusions built at Ford’s Flat Rock Assembly Plant between August 2013 to February 2016; 2014 to 2018 Ford Fusions built at the Hermosillo Assembly Plant from July 2013 to March 2018; and 2014 to 2018 Lincoln MKZs built at the Hermosillo Assembly Plant from July 2013 to March 2018. Ford said it the potentially loose steering wheel bolts could result in a steering wheel detaching from the steering column, leading to a loss of steering and an increased risk of a crash. Separately, Ford said it was issuing a safety recall of about 6,000 2013 to 2016 Ford Focus vehicles for potential clutch plate fracture with a risk of fire. The stock rallied 5.6% in morning trade, boosted by a Morgan Stanley upgrade to overweight from underweight. The stock has shed 8.6% over the past three months while the S&P 500 has gained 4.5%.

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Fitbit Inc. shares are up 0.7% in Wednesday morning trading after analysts at Stifel took an upbeat view of new product announcements made Tuesday. “While facing difficult category trends, we are encouraged to see Fitbit progressing the ecosystem to enhance the value and recruit new customers to the franchise,” wrote the analysts, led by Jim Duffy. He thinks that the company’s new $199.95 Versa smartwatch “occupies a less competitive niche and likely expands the user base.” Meanwhile, he sees potential in the company’s Fitbit Ace kids’ product, which he believes is priced competitively at $99.95. “More targeted offerings are a worthwhile approach though with category units looking for stabilization and the concession in ASP, we don’t yet see a path to revenue stabilization,” Duffy added. He has a hold rating on the stock and a $5.50 price target. Fitbit shares are down 2.7% over the past 12 months, while the S&P 500 has gained 17%.

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U.S. equity markets opened higher on Wednesday as retail sales and producer prices data showed no significant pick-up in inflation. Monthly retail sales fell for a third month in a row, while producer prices last month rose at a slower pace than in January. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 120 points, or 0.5%, to 25,125. The S&P 500 index rose 9 points, or 0.4% to 2,774, while the Nasdaq Composite gained 28 points, or 0.4% to 7,539. Among the best performers on the S&P 500, Ford Motor rallied after analysts at Morgan Stanley upgraded the stock to overweight from underweight. Signet Jewelers Ltd , was the worst performer, dropping sharply after the company unveiled a restructuring plan to be carried out over the next three years.

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U.K. Prime Minister Theresa May said her country plans to expel 23 Russian diplomats who have been identified as undeclared intelligence officers, according to multiple published reports. May also said U.K. ministers and the British Royal Family won’t attend the World Cup soccer tournament that is scheduled to take place in Russia in June and July. The moves come after May on Monday said it was highly likely Russia was responsible for poisoning former spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter in Salisbury this month. She had given Russia until the end of Tuesday to provide an explanation.

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Shares of Square Inc. are up 1.3% in premarket trading Wednesday after an analyst at Instinet cited high merchant willingness to accept Bitcoin as a form of payment. According to Instinet’s recent survey of Square merchants, 60% said they would be willing to accept Bitcoin, a finding that Instinet analyst Dan Dolev wrote was “surprising, especially amid Bitcoin’s elevated volatility.” The survey also found broad satisfaction for Square’s services among merchants, with 38% rating Square as excellent and 58% rating it as good. “Like Amazon.com Inc. in its early days, we believe that little of Square’s future revenue streams are currently visible,” Dolev wrote. He has a buy rating and a $64 price target on shares, the highest among Wall Street analysts covering the stock, according to FactSet. Square shares are up 209% over the past 12 months,w hile the S&P 500 has gained 17%.

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