Tag: stock market

United Airlines Chief Executive Officer Oscar Munoz apologized Tuesday afternoon for the airline’s Sunday treatment of a passenger who was forcibly dragged off an overbooked United airplane by law enforcement. The incident was videotaped by another passenger and spread quickly, prompting outrage but, until Tuesday afternoon, no apology from the airline. “No one should ever be mistreated this way,” Munoz said in a statement. “I want you to know that we take full responsibility and we will work to make it right. It’s never too late to do the right thing.” Munoz said United plans to review its policies for overbooked flights and its partnerships with law enforcement, and that the results would be shared by the end of the month. Munoz’s initial statement after the incident was widely mocked for its use of “re-accommodate” to describe the passenger being brutally forced off the airplane. United Continental Holdings Inc. shares were down 1.5% Tuesday afternoon in heavy volume. Shares have dropped 6.1% over the last three months, compared with a 3.2% rise in the S&P 500 .

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.

…read more

From:: Stock Market News

Lyft Inc. confirmed Tuesday that it closed a funding round of close to $600 million that values the ride-hailing company at $7.5 billion. The Wall Street Journal had reported a funding round of $500 million at a $7.5 billion Thursday. In a blog post, Lyft said that investors in the round included existing investors Rakuten and Janus Capital and new investors Alliance Bernstein, Baillie Gifford, KKR and PSP Investments, Canada’s Public Sector Pension Investment Board. The valuation still puts Lyft behind its rival Uber, which was last valued at $68 billion in June 2016.

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.

…read more

From:: Stock Market News

Oil futures erased early weakness to end in positive territory Tuesday, extending a win streak to six sessions after The Wall Street Journal reported that Saudi Arabia told OPEC officials it wants to extend an agreement to cut crude-oil production. West Texas Intermediate crude for May delivery rose 32 cents, or 0.6%, to close at $53.40 a barrel after trading in negative territory for much of the session.

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.

…read more

From:: Stock Market News

Gold prices rallied Tuesday to finish at their highest level since November. U.S. tensions with North Korea and Russia, as well as the upcoming presidential election in France raised investment demand for gold. June gold rose $20.30, or 1.6%, to settle at $1,274.20 an ounce.

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.

…read more

From:: Stock Market News

Mylan NV shares dropped 1.9% in midday trade Tuesday after the Food and Drug Administration released a warning letter to the company about violations at a manufacturing facility in India. Until all the violations are fixed, the regulator said it “may withhold approval” of new products manufactured by Mylan. The violations stemmed from a September FDA inspection of the factory. Though Mylan had responded to the FDA’s concerns, the FDA said the responses were “inadequate.” Mylan has not thoroughly investigated discrepancies in a batch of lab results, and hasn’t set up a good quality control unit that can review production records, the FDA said. Mylan told MarketWatch that it is working closely with the FDA to address the issues in the letter. Spokeswoman Nina Devlin noted that the India facility is in good standing with other global regulatory entities, that production continues uninterrupted and that Mylan doesn’t expect it to cause any supply issues. The facility is one of 50 worldwide, Devlin said, though she would not disclose what products are manufactured there. Wells Fargo analyst David Maris continued to rate the company market perform, saying “we do not know what products, if any, are manufactured at this plant, and as such, this may have little or no immediate commercial risk.” But, “nothing is more critical for a brand or generic drug company than being able to ensure that its products are safe and effective,” he said. Mylan shares have risen 3.3% over the last three months, compared with a 3.3% rise in the S&P 500 .

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.

…read more

From:: Stock Market News

The U.S. Energy Information Administration raised its forecast on crude-oil production but lowered its outlook on prices, according to the agency’s monthly Short-term Energy Outlook report released Tuesday. The EIA forecast U.S. crude production at an average 9.9 million barrels per day in 2018, up 1.8% from the previous forecast. It sees 2017 output at 9.22 million barrels a day, up a modest 0.1% from the previous forecast. The EIA also lowered its crude-price forecast, with West Texas Intermediate crude seen at an average $52.24 a barrel, and Brent crude at $54.23 in 2017, down 2.3% and 0.7% from last month’s forecast, respectively. May West Texas Intermediate crude was trading at $53 a barrel, down 8 cents, or 0.2%, while June Brent fell 23 cents, or 0.4%, to $55.75.

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.

…read more

From:: Stock Market News

U.S. stocks opened with slight losses on Tuesday, as investors closely watched the tense situations with North Korea and Syria, which could drive sentiment in coming days. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dipped 0.2% to 20,630. The S&P 500 lost 0.2% to 2,352. The Nasdaq Composite Index fell 0.2% to 5,871. Major indexes are within a few percentage points of their all-time highs, hit last month, but investors are looking for new catalysts to push shares decisively higher from here. In addition to political issues, market participants are looking ahead to the upcoming earnings season, which could determine whether the multimonth rally in stocks will be justified by corporate America’s economic activity. The worst performing sector of the day was financials, which dropped 0.4%, and utilities, which shed 0.7%. Among the most active stocks on the day, United Continental Holdings Inc. dropped 2% as the airline continued to deal with the fallout of having a passenger forcibly dragged off a plane.

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.

…read more

From:: Stock Market News

Shares of Cytori Therapeutics Inc. plunged 34% toward a record low in early-morning Tuesday, after the developer of burn treatments priced a stock offering at a deep discount. The pricing comes a day after the stock soared 26% as the company received Food and Drug Administration approval for its burn clinical trial. Earlier Tuesday, the company said it priced an public offering of 8.6 million common shares at $1.10 each, which is 36% below Monday’s closing price of $1.72, and be below its previous record closing price of $1.36 hit on Dec. 28, 2016. With 23.6 million shares outstanding through Monday, according to FactSet, the offering would increase the shares outstanding by 36.5%. The company expects gross proceeds of $9.5 million from the offering, which it plans to use for working capital. The stock has tumbled 25% year to date, while the S&P 500 has gained 5%.

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.

…read more

From:: Stock Market News

Loews Corp. said Tuesday it will buy plastic packaging maker Consolidated Container Company for $1.2 billion from Bain Capital Private Equity. The deal is expected to close in the second quarter, and will be funded with about 50% cash on hand, and 5% debt at Consolidated Container (CCC). “We have been analyzing the packaging industry for some time because it fits our key acquisition criteria: It is a fragmented industry that generates strong cash flows and we believe it is unlikely to be subject to major technological disruption,” said Loews Chief Executive James Tisch. Bain had acquired CCC from Vestar Capital Partners in 2012 for an undisclosed amount. Loews’s three publicly-traded subsidiaries are CNA Financial Corp. , Diamond Offshore Drilling Inc. and Boardwalk Pipeline Partners LP (BWP), and a private subsidiary, Loews Hotels & Co. Loews’s stock, which was still inactive in premarket trade, has gained 1.4% year to date while the S&P 500 has tacked on 5.3%.

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.

…read more

From:: Stock Market News

Shares of American Airlines Group Inc. climbed 1.1% in premarket trade Tuesday, after the air carrier raised its first-quarter outlook for a key traffic metric. Capacity for the month declined 0.9% from a year ago to 23.0 billion available seat miles, while traffic fell 1.2% to 18.8 billion revenue passenger miles. Load factor slipped to 81.5% from 81.7% a year ago. The company raised its guidance for first-quarter total revenue per available seat miles (TRASM) to an increase of 2% to 4% from a previous outlook of up 1.5% to 3.5%. American Airlines lifted its outlook for adjusted pre-tax margin to 4% to 6% from 3% to 5%. The stock has tumbled 9.4% year to date through Monday, while the NYSE Arca Airline Index has eased 0.2% and the S&P 500 has gained 5.3%.

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.

…read more

From:: Stock Market News