JPMorgan ordered to pay more than $4 billion to widow for botching estate settlement

A Dallas jury on Tuesday ordered JPMorgan Chase & Co.[s:JPM] to pay more than $4 billion in damages for mismanaging the estate of a former executive for American Airlines [s:AAL]. The bank was hired by the family of Max Hopper in 2010 to administer his estate, which totaled more than $19 million, but had no last will and testament. The jury found that instead the bank committed fraud, breached its fiduciary duty, and broke a fee agreement. It took years to release assets, the jury was told, and in some cases stock options expired. The bank also ignored requests from Hopper’s widow to sell certain stocks, and paid legal fees out of the estate’s proceeds. “The nation’s largest bank horribly mistreated me and this verdict provides protection to others from being mistreated by banks that think they’re too powerful to be held accountable,” Jo Hopper said in a statement. The bank has said it believes the verdict will be overturned. JPMorgan’s stock has gained 8.6% for the year to date, compared to 11.5% for the S&P 500[s:SPX].

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Wal-Mart relaunching Parent’s Choice baby brand, which will grow to 275 items

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. said Wednesday that it is relaunching its Parent’s Choice baby brand. The roll out of items has been ongoing, and will continue through January 2018. Parent’s Choice began 20 years ago with just baby formula and will grow to 275 items. Key to the line will be a premium diaper, available in select stores and on online, and a line of bedding including 53 pieces. The bedding collection will all be priced $40 or less, with many items less than $13. Baby is a category of focus for rival Target Corp. which has launched lines like PillowFort and Cloud Island in recent months. Wal-Mart shares are nearly flat in premarket trading and up almost 15% for the year so far. The S&P 500 index is up 11.5% for 2017 so far and the Dow Jones Industrial Average is up 12.8% for the period.

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Immune Pharmaceuticals shares surge 75% on positive mid-stage clinical trial results

Immune Pharmaceuticals Inc. shares surged 75% in premarket trade Wednesday after the company said early results from a phase 2 clinical trial for moderate-to-severe bullous pemphigoid were positive. Company shares closed at $1.20 on Tuesday. The results, which came from the first six patients enrolled in the clinical trial for Immune Pharmaceuticals’ bertilimumab, found a decline in patients’ total activity score for the condition of 85%. Patients’ improvement was “rapid,” the company said, with the activity score declining on average by 72% by day 42. Bullous pemphigoid is a rare skin condition that consists of large blisters that can be life-threatening, especially for already-sick older individuals, who the condition commonly afflicts, according to the Mayo Clinic. The company said it will continue to enroll patients in the phase 2 trial, with target enrollment of 12 to 15 patients, and has plans for a larger clinical trial. Immune Pharmaceuticals shares have declined 57.5% over the last three months, compared with a 3.2% rise in the S&P 500 .

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Nike’s stock drop cuts Dow futures gains by a third after downbeat margin outlook

Shares of Nike Inc. sank 3.1% in premarket trade Wednesday, after a downbeat outlook offset a fiscal first-quarter profit beat. The price decline of $1.64 ahead of the open would shave about 11 points off the price of the Dow Jones Industrial Average . Dow futures were up 22 points ahead of the open. Nike’s stock shot up as much as 3.2% in after-hours trade Tuesday, after the athletic apparel and accessories giant beat profit expectations, but the stock turned lower after the conference call with analysts, in which the company cuts its full-year gross margin outlook. Analyst Sam Poser at Susquehanna Financial kept his rating at neutral but cut his stock price target to $47 from $54, citing continued struggles in North America and a lack of forward visibility. Nike’s stock has gained 1.4% over the past three months through Tuesday, while the Dow has climbed 4.6%.

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Hormel Chairman Ettinger to retire, CEO Snee to take on additional role

Hormel Foods Corp. said Wednesday Chairman Jeffrey Ettinger will retire, after nearly 11 years in the role, and over 13 years as a director. Chief Executive Jim Snee will take on the additional role of chairman, effective Nov. 20. Ettinger has been Chairman since November 2006 and director since May 2004. Snee, who has worked at Hormel for 28 years, has been CEO since Oct. 31, 2016. Shares of the food company, which brands include Skippy, Spam and Wholly Guacamole, were inactive in premarket trade. They have shed 7.2% over the past three months, while the SPDR Consumer Staples Select Sector ETF has slipped 1.4% and the S&P 500 has gained 3.2%.

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Roy Moore beats Luther Strange in Alabama GOP Senate primary runoff

President Donald Trump was delivered a rebuke Tuesday night after the candidate he endorsed for Alabama’s U.S. Senate seat, Luther Strange, was defeated in the Republican primary runoff by Roy Moore. Moore had about 58% of the vote to Strange’s 43%, with about half of precincts reporting. Moore, a former Alabama Supreme Court chief justice who was twice suspended from that position for defying court rulings, defeated the incumbent Strange, who was appointed to the seat after Jeff Sessions left it to become U.S. attorney general earlier this year. While Strange was backed by Trump and the GOP establishment, Moore had the support of former Trump strategist Steve Bannon, and rode a wave of anti-establishment, conservative populism. Moore will face Democrat Doug Jones in the Dec. 12 general election.

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Tesla drops Nvidia from infotainment systems, selects Intel: report

Tesla Inc. will use hardware from Intel Corp. and not Nvidia Corp. for the information and entertainment screens in its Model 3 cards and new versions of its other cars, according to a Bloomberg report. Nvidia stock edged up less than 0.1% to $172.10 after hours. Tesla and Intel shares were flat. Both Intel, the world’s largest chip maker, and Nvidia, which has a healthy gaming business from its GPU sales, have been looking for additional revenue streams. Analysts have modeled Nvidia’s next quarter auto revenue of $159 million up from $127 million the year earlier period, according to FactSet. Intel does not break out auto revenue into a separate segment. While electronic components are becoming an increasingly important part of cars, Tesla shipped just over 76,000 in its last fiscal year. Intel stock rose 0.2% to $37.47 after hours and 3.31% thus far this year. The S&P 500 index has risen 11.52%.

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Oil prices up as sources say API data show U.S. crude supply fell

The American Petroleum Institute reported Tuesday that U.S. crude supplies unexpectedly fell by 761,000 barrels for the week ended Sept. 22, according to sources. The API data also showed that gasoline stockpiles rose 1.5 million barrels, while inventories of distillates dropped by 4.5 million barrels, sources said. Supply data from the Energy Information Administration will be released Wednesday morning. Analysts polled by S&P Global Platts expect the EIA to report a climb of 1.3 million barrels in crude inventories, along with declines of 100,000 barrels for gasoline and 2.1 million barrels for distillate supplies. November crude was at $52.12 a barrel in electronic trading, up from the settlement of $51.88 on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

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Cintas shares rise after company beats Wall Street’s views

Shares of Cintas Corp. rose more than 3% late Tuesday after the company reported fiscal first-quarter earnings and sales above Wall Street predictions. Cintas said it earned $217 million, or $1.96 a share, in the quarter, compared with $138 million, or $1.26 a share, in the year-ago period. Revenue reached $1.61 billion, an increase of 27.2% over last year’s first quarter, the company said. Analysts polled by FactSet expected GAAP earnings of $1.23 a share on sales of $1.57 billion. Shares ended the regular trading session 0.6% lower.

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Senate Republicans junk last-gasp effort to kill Obamacare

WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) – Senate Republicans on Tuesday abandoned a latch-ditch effort to replace Obamacare after failing to round up enough votes for the so-called Graham-Cassidy bill. Senate leader Mitch McConnell said conservatives were giving up for now and would turn their focus to tax reform. Republicans have failed repeatedly in their attempt to repeal the 2010 law officially known as the Affordable Care Act, a key party promise. McConnell left open the possibility of taking another bite of the apple next year, but the odds of success remain dim given continued resistance from several Republicans in a chamber conservatives control by a slim 52-48 margin.

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