Tag: stock market

Snap Inc. enjoyed its best day of trading Wednesday since its March 2 debut in the public market, rising 11.4% to $15.98. The company has struggled since the stock soared to a record $27.09 in the days following the initial public offering, and has plunged 22.8% in the past six months. The S&P 500 index has risen 8.4% in the past six months. In a research note sent to clients Wednesday, Credit Suisse raised its price target to $20 from $17, citing an increase in its North American daily active user estimates.

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General Electric Co.’s stock slumped 1.5% in afternoon trade Wednesday, toward the lowest close in over four years, and to extend its losing streak to four sessions. The stock has tumbled 6.2% during its losing streak, the worst four-day stretch since it lost 7.0% during the four days ending Jan. 11, 2016. The losses accelerated this week after the company announced after Friday’s closing bell that its chief financial officer and two other vice chairs were leaving the company, and on Monday that it elected activist investor Trian Fund Management’s chief investment officer to its board. On Wednesday, analyst C. Stephen Tusa at J.P. Morgan, the most bearish of the 20 analysts surveyed by FactSet who are covering GE, cut his price target to $20, which is 13% below current levels, from $22, while reiterating his sell rating. “In our view, an activist heightens the risk that GE tries for a quick fix, like it has done in the past,” Tusa wrote. GE’s stock, on track to close at the lowest level since July 3, 2013, has plunged 27% year to date, while the Dow has gained 16%.

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Shares of Ralph Lauren Corp. slid about 2% Wednesday, after Miller Tabak downgraded the stock to sell from hold and said demand for its brands among luxury shoppers appears to be fading. The investment firm said its indicator of demand peaked at 14% in July and is now flat and headed lower, and it expects the stock to follow suit. “The last time our indicator started downward the stock dropped from $109 in December 2016 to $75 in February 2017 (and then further to $65 when they missed the next quarter),” Miller Tabak wrote in a note. The stock is not expensive, trading at 16 times expectations for calendar year 2018, but if fundamentals decline, that may not matter, said the note. Analysts have tweaked forecasts upward after an earnings beat last quarter. “We’ll continue to look to see if our fundamental demand indicator changes. If it does, we’ll likely change our mind on our rating,” said the note. Ralph Lauren shares have fallen 5% in 2017, while the S&P 500 has gained 14%.

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CHICAGO (MarketWatch) — Cook County in Illinois, which comprises Chicago and many of its inner suburbs, has repealed its four-month-old tax on sugary soft drinks, known locally as the pop tax. The county board’s president, Toni Preckwinkle, had vigorously defended the penny-per-ounce tax, which had been forecast to raise $200 million annually, on both public-health and fiscal grounds, backed by an advertising push from Michael Bloomberg, the former New York mayor. Opponents of the tax included retailers and the American Beverage Association. The repeal vote was 15-2, the Chicago Tribune reported, adding that it would cease being collected on Dec. 1.

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U.S. stock-market indexes remained little changed on Wednesday after the release of the minutes from the Federal Reserve’s September policy meeting. Whether or not to raise interest rates again this year, given the slowdown in inflation, has been hotly debated by Fed officials since the Sept. 20 meeting. The S&P 500 was up by 1 point at 2,552. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite index was up 5 points at 6,593. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 15 points at 22,845. The yield on the 2-year Treasury bond, which is the most sensitive to interest rates, moved slightly higher, trading at 1.528%, while the ICE U.S. dollar index edged lower to trade at 93.02

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Gold prices finished lower Wednesday, pressured by growing expectations for a December interest-rate hike by the U.S. Federal Reserve. Waiting for inflation to hit the central bank’s 2% target before further interest rate hikes would be a mistake, said Kansas City Fed President Esther George on Wednesday. Gold prices, however, edged higher in electronic trading after minutes from the Federal Reserve’s September meeting showed that “several” officials want more confidence about higher inflation before supporting another rate increase. In electronic trading, December gold was at $1,290.70 an ounce, after settling with a loss of $4.90, or 0.4%, at $1,288.90 an ounce.

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WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) – Kansas City Fed President Esther George said Wednesday that waiting for inflation to hit the central bank’s 2% target before further interest rate hikes would be a mistake. “Waiting for solid evidence that inflation will reach 2% before taking further steps to remove accommodation carries risks of overheating the economy, fostering financial instability, and perhaps putting in motion an undesirable increase in inflation,” George said in a speech to the Central Exchange in Kansas City. George, one of the more hawkish regional Fed presidents, is not a voting member of the Fed’s policy committee this year. More dovish Fed officials have suggested pausing on rate hikes until inflation picks up from low readings this summer. George said low inflation seen this year “is not a current worry.”

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The failure of the U.S. men’s soccer team to make the 2018 World Cup tournament may feel like a $1.2 billion gut punch, to fans and investors in 21st Century Fox Inc.’s stock. The TV broadcaster and film producer hadpaid $425 million for rights to televise the 2018 and 2022 World Cups in the U.S. The company was previously a part of News Corp. , which owns MarketWatch. The stock slumped 64 cents, or 2.4%, in afternoon midday trade. Volume of 9.2 million shares was already more than the full-day average of 6.9 million shares. Based on 1.85 billion shares outstanding, according to FactSet, the stock price decline would be wiping out $1.19 billion worth of market capitalization. The stock has still rallied 6.0% over the past three months, while the S&P 500 has gained 5.2%.

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The U.S. Energy Information Administration on Wednesday forecast that consumers will see a 12% increase in their natural-gas heating bills this winter, compared to last winter. Residential prices for natural gas are expected to average $10.36 per thousand cubic feet, which would be 2% higher than last winter, the EIA said in its Winter Fuels Outlook report. Consumption of the fuel will likely be 9% higher than last winter. Households using heating oil, meanwhile, will likely spend 17% more on their heating bills than last winter. On the New York Mercantile Exchange, November natural gas traded at $2.935 per million British thermal units, up 1.5%, while November heating oil fell 0.1% to $1.763 a gallon.

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The U.S. Energy Information Administration on Wednesday raised its price forecasts on West Texas Intermediate and Brent crude oil for this year and next, and lifted its U.S. production outlook for 2018. In its monthly energy outlook report, the government agency forecast WTI prices at $49.69 a barrel for this year, up 1.7% from its September forecast. For 2018, it forecast $50.57-up 2% from the previous outlook. The EIA also upped its 2017 forecast on Brent crude by 2.7% to $52.43 and its 2018 outlook by 4.8% to $54.07. It modestly lowered its U.S. crude production view to 9.24 million barrels per day this year, but raised its 2018 output view by 0.8% to 9.92 million barrels a day. November WTI crude traded at $50.67 a barrel, down 0.5%. December Brent crude fell 0.6% to $56.26 a barrel.

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