Tag: stock market

Hulu, the streaming platform jointly owned by Walt Disney Co. , Comcast Corp. , 21st Century Fox Inc. and Time Warner Inc. , said on Tuesday that Chief Executive Mike Hopkins is stepping down. Hopkins had been CEO of Hulu since 2013 and saw the company through significant growth in its original programming and audience, as well as nabbing the first best drama Emmy for a streaming service and launching Hulu’s live internet TV service. Hopkins, according to media reports, is heading to Sony Pictures Entertainment . He will be replaced at Hulu by Randy Freer, who serves on the company’s board and has been the president and chief operating officer at Fox Networks Group since 2013.

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Amazon.com Inc. said Tuesday it has launched Business Prime Shipping in the U.S. and Germany, an annual membership program that offers free two-day shipping for all users on an Amazon Business account. The membership price would be $499 for up to 10 users, $1,299 for up to 100 users and $10,099 for over 100 users. “Business Prime Shipping enables businesses with multiple users to further simplify their procurement procedures and increasingly rely on Amazon Business to deliver,” said Amazon Business Vice President Prentis Wilson. The stock rallied 1.2% in midday trade. It has lost 5.9% over the past three months, but was still up 30% year to date. In comparison, the S&P 500 has gained 4.0% over the past three months and has climbed 15% so far this year.

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Biogen Inc. shares plummeted as much as 7% in extremely heavy Tuesday morning trade after Wall Street analysts raised questions about revenue growth for rare disease therapy Spinraza. Though sales of the spinal muscular atrophy therapy came in above analyst expectations, or $271 million compared with the FactSet consensus of $253 million, U.S. sales for the drug barely budged, coming in at $198 million compared with $195 million in the second quarter. (Spinraza was approved late last year.) Mizuho analyst Salim Syed described the growth as “flattish.” However, because of $30 million of revenue build in the second quarter, “U.S. sales were not really flat,” said Bernstein analyst Ronny Gal. “Our estimate is the rate of new US starts will be relatively stable and this will drive slight but limited US growth,” Gal said, adding that it’s likely that site capacity is slowing down new starts at existing sites. Biogen’s shares declined in Tuesday trade despite reporting third-quarter profit and revenue beats, which EvercoreISI analyst Umer Raffat said “seems a bit overdone to me.” Biogen management described Spinraza as a “key current and future growth driver” during its Tuesday third-quarter earnings call. “We expect that Spinraza continues on a strong trajectory in terms of patient uptake in the U.S. and internationally,” said Biogen Chief Executive Michel Vounatsos, according to the FactSet earnings transcript. “However, due to the impact of the dosing scheduling, we anticipate Spinraza revenue growth in Q4 will be mostly driven by ex-U.S. markets.” Biogen shares have surged 8.9% over the last three months, compared with a 4% rise in the S&P 500 .

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The largest exchange-traded fund to track the industrial sector rallied on Tuesday, advancing to a record in the wake of better-than-expected results from a pair of major components. The Industrial Select Sector SPDR ETF rose 0.9% and hit an all-time high in early trading. Thus far this year, the fund is up nearly 18%. The fund was boosted by Caterpillar , which jumped 5.8% in the wake of results that topped forecasts. The heavy-machinery maker also raised its outlook. The Dow component is one of the latest components of the fund, comprising 3.5% of the portfolio. Separately, 3M Co. jumped 6.2% in the wake of its own results, putting it on track for its biggest one-day percentage gain since July 2009. The stock is the ETF’s third-largest component, accounting for 5.7% of the holdings.

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The latest exchange of insults on Twitter between President Donald Trump and Sen. Bob Corker, a Republican of Tennessee, won’t hurt the chances of passage of a GOP tax-cut plan, House Speaker Paul Ryan said Tuesday. “At the end of the day, I know Bob well. Bob is going to vote for Tennessee, he’s going to vote for America, he’s going to vote for tax reform,” Ryan said at a press conference with House Republican leaders. “So put this Twitter dispute aside,” he said. The latest dispute between Trump and Corker started when Corker went on television earlier Tuesday and said Trump should stop interfering in the deliberations over the tax bill. Trump then tweeted that Corker “couldn’t get elected dog catcher in Tennessee.” Corker responded by calling Trump “untruthful.”

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A pair of surveys of American companies shows that businesses grew at the fastest pace in October in at least eight months, according to IHS Markit. The firm’s flash manufacturing PMI rose to 54.5 this month and hit a nine-month high. The flash services PMI increased to 55.9 in October from 55.3 and reached a eight-month peak. “The U.S. economy seems to have made a strong
start to the final quarter of 2017,” said Tim Moore, asociate director at IHS Markit. Any number above 50% indicates more companies are growing instead of shrinking.

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Tenet Healthcare Corp. shares declined 1.8% in Tuesday morning trade after the company’s chief executive officer left the company at an earlier-than-expected date. The company announced in late August that then-Chief Executive Trevor Fetter would step down from his position and a director role either March 15 or when a successor was appointed. However, Fetter stepped down before a permanent successor was appointed. Tenet said Executive Chairman Ronald Rittenmeyer will serve as CEO as the search for a new one continues. Mizuho Securities analyst Sheryl Skolnick called Fetter’s exit abrupt and asked, “Why now?” “With the company reportedly up for sale, regional management being eliminated, hospitals closing and the 3Q report coming up, and Executive Chairman Rittenmeyer, whose CEO skills are largely unknown to us, now at the helm, THC has potentially destabilized even more than before,” Skolnick, who rates the company neutral with a $14 price target, said. “The whole situation leaves us, and likely investors, confused and concerned about the near-term results and mid-term prospects.” Tenet is scheduled to report third-quarter earnings after the bell on November 6, and the impact of recent U.S. hurricanes along with Fetter’s departure suggest the company will have a larger-than-expected earnings miss, Skolnick said. Tenet shares have plummeted 31.7% over the last three months, compared with a 4% rise in the S&P 500 .

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Stocks opened higher Tuesday, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average rising triple digits to notch an all-time high after strong earnings from Caterpillar Inc. and 3M Co. The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq Composite advanced 0.2%. The Dow rose 153 points, or 0.7%, to 23, 426, with shares of Caterpillar leading the way higher with a rise of 5.8% and 3M advancing 3.6%.

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Equifax Inc. is facing a probe from a U.K. watchdog, adding to the credit reporting company’s woes. Britain’s Financial Conduct Authority said Tuesday that it’s “investigating the circumstances surrounding a cybersecurity incident that led to the loss of U.K. customer data held by Equifax Ltd. on the servers of its U.S. parent.” Equifax disclosed a massive breach last month, and analysts have said breach-related fines and lawsuit settlements could be substantial, ranging between about $500 million to $1 billion.

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Shares of Interpublic Group of Companies tumbled 5.5% in premarket trade Tuesday, on track to open at a 2-year low, after the advertising agency missed third-quarter profit and sales expectations and cut its outlook. The company said in a statement that revenue was negatively impacted by “broader trends that are being felt throughout much of the industry.” Net income rose to $146.2 million, or 37 cents a share, from $128.6 million, or 32 cents a share, in the same period a year ago. Excluding non-recurring items, adjusted earnings per share of 31 cents was below the FactSet consensus of 33 cents. Revenue fell 1.0% to $1.90 billion, missing the FactSet consensus of $1.97 billion, as both U.S. and international revenue fell below expectations. The company cut its outlook for 2017 organic revenue growth guidance range to 1% to 2% from 3% to 4%, and its margin expansion outlook to 0.40 percentage points from 0.50 percentage points. The stock has plunged 19% over the past three months through Monday, as second-quarter results reported in July also missed expectations, while the S&P 500 has gained 3.9%.

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