Tag: stock market

Novavax Inc. shares soared 15% higher in late trading Wednesday after the company said a study into its new flu vaccine approach showed stronger results than the standard flu vaccine in responding to a strain that has caused massive trouble this year. Novavax said its study showed better results than the current vaccine in three areas, with the most important being response to the H3N2 flu strain. That strain has been partly blamed for this flu season being one of the worst on record, and an article in the New England Journal of Medicine claimed that this year’s vaccine is only 10% effective against that strain. Novavax said that its NanoFlu recombinant vaccine was 47% to 64% more effective against different strains of H3N2 than the standard flu vaccine. After closing with a 3.6% decline at $2.17, shares jumped about 15% after the study’s results were released.

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Hope Hicks is resigning as White House communications director, The New York Times reported. Hicks is a long-serving aide to President Donald Trump, from before his days as a candidate, and her resignation comes a day after testifying before the House Intelligence Committee over its investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election. The report also quoted Trump as saying “Hope is outstanding and has done great work for the last three years.” Hicks said she had “no words” to express her gratitude to the president.

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Spotify Technology SA filed Wednesday for a direct listing, though it didn’t give a time frame for when the shares would begin to list. The company disclosed revenue of €4.09 billion ($4.99 billion) for 2017, up from €2.95 billion a year earlier, and a net loss of €1.24 billion, more than double its 2016 loss of €539 million. The Luxembourg-based music-streaming service had 159 million monthly active users as of year. The company said it had 71 million premium subscribers and generated revenue of €5.32 per paying user. Unlike with an initial public offering, the company said, shares aren’t being underwritten by an investment bank. With direct listings, companies don’t raise money or hold road shows, making the IPO process less expensive. Current shareholders also don’t have their equity stakes diluted.

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S&P Global Ratings placed Comcast Corp.’s A-minus rating on CreditWatch negative on Thursday, on concerns that its all-cash offer for Sky Plc might lead to sustained higher leverage. “This could be exacerbated by a potential bidding war for Sky which could lead to a higher purchase price which, if Comcast were to win, could weaken credit measures such that they may no longer support our ‘A-‘ corporate credit rating,” the agency said in a statement. Comcast surprised the market Tuesday with a $30.9 billion offer for Sky, that tops an existing deal with 21st Century Fox , which in turn has a deal with Walt Disney Co. . “If Comcast were to successfully bid for Sky, we
would evaluate the impact on Comcast’s credit measures in resolving the
CreditWatch placement,: said S&P. Specifically, it would evaluate how high leverage would be relative to the current 3x threshold for the rating and management’s commitment and ability to lower it. Comcast bonds continued to widen Wednesday, according to MarketAxess. The most active notes, the 4.000% notes that mature in 2048, were four basis points wider on the day, according to MarketAxess.

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The Securities and Exchange Commission charged Ameriprise Financial Services Inc. , the Minnesota-based broker-dealer and investment adviser with overcharging retail retirement account customers by recommending higher-fee mutual fund shares when less options were available. Approximately 1,791 customer accounts paid $1.8 million in unnecessary up-front sales charges, contingent deferred sales charges, and higher ongoing fees and expenses as a result of Ameriprise’s practices, according to the SEC’s press release issued Wednesday. Ameriprise cooperated with the Commission to issue payments including interest to the affected customers and converted eligible customers to the mutual fund share class with the lowest expenses for which they are eligible, at no cost. Ameriprise did not admit or deny the findings but consented to a cease-and-desist order, a censure, and a penalty of $230,000.

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The New York State Department of Financial Services is asking banks including Deutsche Bank and Signature Bank about its ties to Jared Kushner, The Wall Street Journal reported, citing people familiar with the request. Kushner is the son-in-law of President Donald Trump and a senior adviser in the White House. The report said the inquiries seek information about Kushner’s individual finances and those related to his family’s real-estate company, Kushner Cos., the report said.

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Market research firm IDC said Wednesday that it expected shipments of personal computing devices to decrease at a 1.8% annual rate through 2022. IDC considers personal computing devices to be desktop, notebook, and workstation PCs, as well as standard and detachable tablets. Detachable tablets, which are those like Apple Inc.’s iPad with removable keyboards built by the manufacturer, are expected to be the lone source of fast growth in the market, with IDC predicting that shipments will grow 9.6% annually through 2022. Conversely, the IDC analysts forecast a 0.9% decline for traditional PCs and a 6.2% decline for traditional tablets. On Tuesday, the firm said it expected 2.8% annual growth in smartphone shipments over the same period.

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Oil prices settled sharply lower Wednesday, with U.S. benchmark crude losing more than 4% in February for its first monthly drop since August. A bigger-than-expected weekly climb in U.S. crude stockpiles and a fresh weekly record in domestic production contributed to oil’s losses for the session. April WTI crude fell $1.37, or 2.2%, to settle at $61.64 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, the lowest finish since Feb. 16.

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Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s team is asking witnesses questions about whether Donald Trump was aware Democratic emails had been stolen before that was publicly known, and whether he was involved in their release, NBC News reported Wednesday. The report said Mueller’s investigators have asked witnesses whether Trump was aware of plans for WikiLeaks to publish the emails. The questions suggest the special counsel is probing possible coordination between WikiLeaks and Trump associates in disseminating the emails.

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Gold prices make a last minute turn lower Wednesday to post a modest loss, contributing to the metal’s first monthly decline since October. Strength in the dollar following Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell’s House testimony Tuesday continued to pressure prices. April gold edged down by 70 cents, or less than 0.1%, to settle at $1,317.90 an ounce. Prices, which traded slightly higher for much of the session, ended the month with a loss of roughly 1.8%.

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