Tag: stock market

Shares of Wal-Mart Stores Inc. surged 4.5% in morning trade, enough to pace the gainers within the Dow Jones Industrial Average , after the discount retail giant announced a new stock buyback program and detailed its profit and sales outlook. The $3.62 price gain on the stock, which was on track to close at the highest level since February 2015, was adding about 25 points to the price of the Dow, which was up 35 points in midday trade. The next biggest positive influence was Chevron Corp.’s stock , which was up $1.43, or 1.2%, to add 10 points to the Dow. The biggest drag on the blue-chip barometer was UnitedHealth Group Inc.’s stock , which fell $1.79, or 0.9%, to shave 12 points off the Dow.

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The nation’s largest labor group has asked the Securities and Exchange Commission to investigate what it said was potential insider trading at student loan company Navient Corp. , according to a copy of a letter by the AFL-CIO obtained by Bloomberg News. The trades were allegedly made prior to the Labor Day holiday, just before the Education Department said it would not cooperate with a separate investigation of Navient undertaken by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. The Trump administration has been at odds with the CFPB and its Democratic-appointed chairman.

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Shares of General Electric Co. rallied 1.5% in morning trade Tuesday, bouncing off a two-year low close in the previous session, although Morgan Stanley said it is expecting a “rare” miss of third-quarter profit expectations. GE hasn’t missed the FactSet consensus for earnings per share since the first quarter of 2015, but analyst Nigel Coe expects Q3 EPS of 48 cents, which is below the FactSet consensus of 50 cents. He believes the miss will result from weakness in GE’s power and aviation businesses. Coe said he also believes full-year guidance will come under pressure on a revised outlook for “flattish” results from power, second-half sales mix pressure at aviation and shortfalls at the oil and gas, renewables and transportation business segments. GE is scheduled to report third-quarter results on Oct. 20. Despite the recent earnings beats, the stock has fallen on the day the past seven quarterly reports were released. GE’s stock has tumbled 25% year to date, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average has climbed 15%.

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Uncertainty from Brexit and Catalonia’s push for independence is a major risk to the outlook in Europe, Maurice Obstfeld, the chief economist at the International Monetary Fund, said Tuesday. At a press conference discussing the agency’s latest global economic report card, Obstfeld urged British and EU negotiators to avoid a “cliff edge” Brexit. He said British Prime Minister Teresa May’s proposal of a two-year transition period could be a “good thing” as it would set out a clear end-point and a process to get there. “The clock is, as everybody knows, very short,” he said. Asked about the tension between Spain and Catalonia, Obstfeld said it was “indeed concerning.” “We can only hope the parties don’t act precipitously [and] negotiate. There is a lot of potential gain on both sides if they do so,” he said.

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Analysts at Morgan Stanley on Tuesday raised their price target on Tesla Inc. stock to $379, from $317. Tesla’s “rapidly growing infrastructure footprint” for electric cars sets the company apart from others, the analysts said. They kept their rating on the shares at their equivalent of neutral. The $379 price target represents an 8% upside to Tuesday’s prices and compares with an average of $315.48 according to FactSet. Last week, analysts at Nomura started covering Tesla with a $500 price target, sending the stock higher.

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U.S. stocks climbed on Tuesday at the open as the energy sector rallied and as the International Monetary Fund raised its outlook for global growth, reinforcing optimism about the health of the world economy that has helped drive equities to all-time highs. The Dow Jones Industrial Average advanced 78 points, or 0.4%, at 22,839, the S&P 500 index gained 10 points, or 0.4%, at 2,554, aided by a firm climb in the energy sector, measured by the Energy Select Sector SPDR ETF. Meanwhile, the Nasdaq Composite Index rose 27 points, or 0.4%, to 6,607. All three benchmarks notched intrady records in early Tuesday trade. The IMF said roughly 75% of the world’s economy is sharing in the acceleration, a broader recovery than any in a decade. But it warned that a too-quick tapering from quantitative-easing measures by the European Central Bank and China failing to get a handle on its credit growth as factors that could derail economic progress. In corporate news, Procter & Gamble Co. shares gained as the consumer-products giant held an annual general meeting where a proxy vote among shareholders will decide on whether Trian Fund Management LP’s chief executive officer, Nelson Peltz, gets a seat on the company’s board. Meanwhile, Wal-Mart Stores Inc. shares were leading blue-chip gains, up 2.9%.

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Express Scripts Holding Company shares dropped 2.5% premarket on news that the company has agreed to buy privately-held medical benefit management company eviCore healthcare for $3.6 billion. The deal is expected to close in the fourth quarter and should grow Express Scripts’ adjusted diluted earnings-per-share in the first full year of operation, the company said. Express Scripts, the largest stand-alone pharmacy-benefits manager, said that the acquisition is “an attractive entry point into a growing market” and noted that eviCore manages medical benefits for 100 million people. The two companies will be “uniquely positioned” to improve health care outcomes, said eviCore Chief Executive John Arlotta. Express Scripts is one of several companies in the pharmaceutical drug supply chain that could be threatened by an entry from online retailer Amazon. A decision from Amazon is reportedly expected by Thanksgiving. Express Scripts shares have plummeted 4.2% over the last three months, compared with a 4.8% rise in the S&P 500 .

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Shares of data firm Helios & Matheson Analytics Inc. , the company with a majority ownership stake in movie-theater subscription service MoviePass, were up more than 15% in premarket trade on Tuesday after closing up roughly 34% during the previous session. CNA Finance, a group of traders; educators and venture capitalists, wrote in a release that investors are clearly clamoring to get their hands on a piece of MoviePass. “There’s no denying the success of the plan surrounding MoviePass that was put in place by Helios & Matheson Analytics,” the team at CNA Finance wrote. “Moving forward, the CNA Finance team will continue to follow [Helios & Matheson stock] incredibly closely. In particular, we’re interested in following the ongoing growth of MoviePass, as we believe that HMNY may have created a goldmine when they reduced the price of the service.” Shares of Helios & Matheson have gained more than 539% in the year to date and more than 750% in the last three months. By comparison, the S&P 500 index is up nearly 14% in the year and the Dow Jones Industrial Average is up more than 15%.

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Shares of Nvidia Corp. shot up 3.6% toward a record high in premarket trade Tuesday, after the graphics chip maker unveiled new hardware to be used in self-driving taxis. The stock changed hands at $192.12 ahead of the open, above the Sept. 18 record close of $187.55 and all-time intraday high of $191.20 reached the same day. The new hardware, which is the size of a license plate and harnesses the equivalent of 100 servers in a data center, is dubbed Nvidia Drive PX Pegasus, and was unveiled at the GTC technology conference in Europe. Nvidia’s stock has already rocketed 74% year to date through Monday, while the PHLX Semiconductor Index has run up 32% and the S&P 500 has gained 14%.

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KalVista Pharmaceuticals Inc. shares surged 111% in premarket trade Tuesday on news that Merck has acquired a 9.9% ownership stake in the company for $9.1 million, at a price of $8.50 per share. Merck will also pay KalVista $37 million upfront for the option to acquire KalVista’s diabetic macular edema drug candidate, which the companies will collaborate to develop, and a similar option for other future oral diabetic macular edema compounds. KalVista is also eligible for additional payments that could total up to $715 million, and will receive tiered royalties on net sales. KalVista plans to pay for and organize the planned phase 2 trial for the diabetic macular edema treatment, KVD001, and for other such compounds through phase 2. Diabetic macular edema is a diabetes complication that can cause impaired vision or vision loss. KalVista shares were valued at $7.35 as of Monday’s close. Shares have lifted 0.3% over the last three months, compared with a 4.8% rise in the S&P 500 . Merck shares lifted 0.5% in premarket trade.

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