Tag: stock market

Shares of Boeing Co. rallied 1.4%, which is currently enough to keep the Dow Jones Industrial Average from a triple digit loss, at least for now. The stock’s price gain of $5.08 in afternoon trade would add about 35 points to the Dow, which is a price-weighted index, while the Dow is down 82 points. Boeing’s stock rally comes after the aerospace and defense giant said it reached a deal with President Trump to build a new Air Force One.

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Gold futures fell sharply Tuesday, suffering from the largest one-day dollar and percentage loss in a week. The U.S. dollar strengthened and bond yields rose as expectations for future interest-rate hikes increased during Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell’s congressional testimony. April gold lost $14.20, or 1.1%, to settle at $1,318.60 an ounce–the lowest finish since Feb. 9.

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Investors on Tuesday raised their expectations for four rate hikes from a consensus of three hikes this year after Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell’s congressional testimony. Traders in the fed fund futures market, where investors can place bets on the course of future interest rates, increased the probability of four rate hikes to 33.9% from 24.4% a day ago, according to data from CME Group. Specifically, investors appeared to focus on Powell’s comments that he personally felt the economic outlook had strengthened since December. Government bond investors also reacted to the prospect of a more aggressive central bank as Treasury yields rose and bond prices fell.

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Carters Inc. shares fell 7.2% in Tuesday trading after the baby and children’s apparel company gave earnings guidance below expectations. Net income was $135.7 million, or $2.84 per share, up from $87.1 million, or $1.76, for the same period last year. Adjusted EPS was $2.32. Results include a benefit of $40 million from the tax overhaul. Sales totaled $1.027 billion, up from $934.2 million year-over-year. The FactSet consensus was for EPS of $2.20 and sales of $1.026 billion. Same-store sales increased 4.5%, with e-commerce comparable sales rising 19.1% and comparable retail store sales falling 1%. U.S. wholesale sales increased 11% to $329.8 million. For the first-quarter, the company expects a 2% increase in sales and adjusted EPS of about 97 cents. Full-year sales are expected to rise 5% with adjusted EPS of $5.76. FactSet expects first-quarter EPS of $1.18 and full-year EPS of $6.69. Wells Fargo analysts think this is “a compelling buying opportunity” because first-quarter guidance is driven mostly by wholesale timing, which should help the second quarter. And the company will reinvest $20 million in the company. “Had Carters not encountered any timing shifts and opted to flow-through 100% of their tax savings, their EPS guide likely would have looked more like $1.19 in Q1 and $7.00,” analysts wrote. Wells Fargo rates Carter’s shares outperform with a $145 price target. Carter’s stock is up 26.4% for the past year while the S&P 500 index is up nearly 17% for the period.

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Yield spreads on bonds issued by Comcast Corp. widened Tuesday, after the company surprised the market with a $30.9 billion offer for Sky Plc . The company topped a bid from 21st Century Fox Inc. and complicated a deal Fox has made to sell many of its assets to Walt Disney Co. . “The purchase offer is all cash, resulting in pro forma leverage of approximately 3.0 times should the deal be completed on proposed terms,” said CreditSight analysts. “This represents a material step up up from about 2.2 times net leverage at year-end and the company’s historical norm.” CreditSights is recommending looking at a 20 basis-point widening as an opportunity to add exposure on the company’s 10-year bonds, which were trading about 5 basis points wider in early afternoon trade, according to MarketAxess. The company’s most-active bonds, the 4.000% notes due in March of 2048, were about 6 basis points wider, according to MarketAxess, while the 3.9000% notes due in March of 2038 were 4 basis points wider on the day. On the equities side, the stock was down 5.7%, while the S&P 500 was down 0.3%.

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The Federal Trade Commission said Tuesday that it reached a settlement with PayPal Holdings Inc. over the commission’s allegations that PayPal misled Venmo users about account transfers. PayPal shares are down 0.6% in Tuesday trading. The commission charged that PayPal told users of its Venmo app that they could transfer money to their bank accounts without properly informing them that funds could be removed or frozen following the company’s review of the transactions. The FTC also said that Venmo “misrepresented the extent to which consumers’ financial accounts were protected by ‘bank grade security systems,'” according to a release. “We are pleased to conclude this process with the FTC in a cooperative way,” PayPal said in a statement. “We’ve taken steps to significantly strengthen our privacy and data security practices. The company will continue to invest heavily in programs designed to create better user understanding and to enhance privacy.” A company spokesperson also said that there was “no associated fine.” The proposed FTC settlement will be available for public comment through March 29 and then the commission will decide whether to finalize it. PayPal shares are up 85% over the past 12 months, while the S&P 500 Index has gained 17%.

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AmerisourceBergen Corp. shares dropped 6% and Walgreens Boots Alliance shares dropped 2.2% in midday trade Tuesday after a CNBC report said that the two companies’ talks ended without a deal. The Wall Street Journal previously reported that Walgreens was in talks to buy AmerisourceBergen. AmerisourceBergen shares have surged 17% over the last three months, while Walgreens shares have declined 1%, compared with a 6.2% rise in the S&P 500 .

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Boeing Co. will build the “next generation” of Air Force One, a “flying White House at outstanding value to taxpayers,” the company said in a tweet Tuesday. President Trump negotiated “a good deal on behalf of the American people,” Boeing said. Shares of Boeing have rallied more than 140% since December 2016, when Trump threatened to cancel an order for new Air Force One planes saying on Twitter that costs were “out of control.” The deal this week would be for two planes at $3.9 billion, according to news reports. The original deal was for around $5 billion. Shares of Boeing have gained 105% in the past 12 months, compared with 17% for the S&P 500 index and 23% for the Dow Jones Industrial Average. Shares rose as much as $369.15 on Tuesday, and were on track for a record close. Boeing last month reported better-than-expected fourth-quarter earnings.

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Exchange-traded funds tracking emerging-market equities slumped on Tuesday as the U.S. dollar spiked during Federal Reserve head Jerome Powell’s first congressional testimony. The Vanguard FTSE Emerging Markets ETF sank 2.1% and was on track for its biggest one-day percentage decline since Feb. 8. Separately, the iShares MSCI Emerging Markets ETF was down 2.2% while the iShares Core MSCI Emerging Markets ETF lost 2.1%. All three were on track for a day of higher-than-average trading volume. The move lower coincided with an advance by the U.S. dollar index , which rose 0.6% and touched its highest level since Jan. 18 as Powell testified. The new chairman dodged the question of whether the central bank would raise interest rates more than the projected three times, however, he said his outlook for the economy had strengthened. Emerging-market stocks often have an inverse correlation with the U.S. dollar because many borrow in the greenback, and have higher costs of paying that back as it strengthens. Over the past 12 months, the Vanguard ETF is up 23.4% while the dollar index is down more than 10%. On Tuesday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.1% while the S&P 500 was off 0.4% and the Nasdaq Composite Index was down 0.6%.

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The dollar index rallied to its strongest level since Jan. 18 on Wednesday, as new Federal Reserve head Jerome Powell gave his first congressional testimony. Powell said the U.S. economy was strong with little risk of recession at the moment and modest risk in the financial sector. The new chairman dodged the question of whether the central bank would raise interest rates more than the projected three times, however saying that his outlook for the economy had strengthened. He also spoke out in favor of the effectiveness of quantitative easing in response to a question about a paper by Wall Street analysts criticizing the lose monetary policy approach. The ICE U.S. Dollar Index touched an session high of 90.50, and was last up 0.6% at 90.370, reflecting strength across the board. The buck’s major rival, the euro , slipped 0.6% to $1.2241, while the British pound bought $1.3880, down 0.6%. Against the Japanese yen, the dollar rose 0.6% to ￥107.53.

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Market Pulse Stories are Rapid-fire, short news bursts on stocks and markets as they move. Visit MarketWatch.com for more information on this news.

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