Tag: stock market

Oil futures settled at a one-month high Friday, finding support after a U.S. airstrike on Syria contributed to geopolitical tensions. West Texas Intermediate crude for May delivery rose 54 cents, or 1%, to close at $52.19 a barrel, the highest finish since March 7. Oil had jumped as much as 2.4% immediately following the airstrikes, but gave back some ground as traders questioned whether the initial reaction was overdone.

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Gambler Billy Walters was founded guilty of insider trading, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York said Friday. Walters was alleged to received inside information about Dean Foods from a board member and netted over $43 million.

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Gold futures on Friday finished higher, but well off its loftiest levels for the session, as strength in the U.S. dollar and a rebound in stocks dulled the yellow metal’s early surge following U.S. airstrikes on Syria. June gold closed $4, or 0.3%, up at $1,257.30 an ounce. A much weaker-than-expected March jobs report had helped the yellow metal to extend gains but a firming dollar eroded some of the commodity’s appeal. A stronger greenback tends to make assets pegged to the currency more expensive to buyers using other monetary units. One popular measure of the dollar, the ICE U.S. Dollar Index , rose 0.6% at 101.17. The Dow Jones Industrial Average and the S&P 500 index also rebounded somewhat after coming under selling pressure early in the session, luring some investors away from havens and into securities perceived as risky. Still, gold futures find themselves in a bit of an uptrend, ending higher five out of the past six sessions. For the week, gold closed up 0.2% and logged its fourth straight weekly advance. But the metal failed to end above its 200-day moving average of $1,261.10 an ounce, according to FactSet data. Moving averages help to determine trends in an asset.

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Twitter Inc. dropped its suit against the U.S. government Friday after the government withdrew its summons to reveal the identity of an account that had been critical of the Trump Administration. Twitter had filed suit Thursday, claiming that the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and U.S. Customs and Border Protections had been unlawfully using a summons directing Twitter to reveal the identity of *ALT_USCIS,” an account which had tweeted content critical of the administration’s immigration policies. Twitter argued that the summons, delivered March 14, violated free speech rights of that user and other related accounts. Twitter has dismissed the claim without prejudice, according to the filing.

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Fitch Ratings on Friday revised the outlook on General Mills Inc.’s BBB-plus rating to negative from stable, citing concerns the food company will be unable to stabilize revenue after two years of weakness in categories including cereal, yogurt and convenient meals. “Fitch currently expects EBITDA to remain flat within the $3.4 billion to $3.5 billion range over the next three years, with adjusted leverage remaining around the current 2.8 times level,” the rating agency said in a statement. “This assumes that revenue trends improve to negative 1% by fiscal year 2019.” Fitch could downgrade the rating if revenue remains stressed and EBITDA declines to less than $3.2 billion and leverage above 3 times, it said. The revised outlook also reflects the company’s increased share buybacks, which reward shareholders but are a negative for bond holders. General Mills most active bonds, the 3.20% notes due in October of 2027 were trading at 98.469 cents on the dollar, according to MarketAxess. Shares were flat, but are down 6.4% in 2017 so far, while the S&P 500 has gained 5.5%.

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The Dow Jones Industrial Average’s tentative afternoon gain on Friday was being almost entirely supported by a rise in shares of Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and Boeing Co. Combined, Wal-Mart and Boeing’s share gains were adding about 16 points to the blue-chip index , which was aiming for a close in positive territory for the day and week. However, Goldman Sach Group’s 0.7% decline was helping to drag the gauge lower, cutting about 10 points from the price-weighted benchmark. Meanwhile, the S&P 500 index was up less than a point at 2,357, and the Nasdaq Composite Index was trading flat at 5,881. Cautious trading Friday comes as disappointing March employment data and President Donald Trump’s late Thursday airstrike against Syria weigh heavily on investor sentiment. Trump also is holding diplomatic talks with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping in Mar-a-lago, Fla., which is being closely followed for signs of geopolitical tensions. The U.S. strike against Syria and jobs report initially knocked stocks around but the market has shown an uncanny degree of resilience, hovering in the green, however slight.

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Shares of athletic clothing and shoes Under Armour Inc. slid 3% Friday to lead S&P 500 decliners, after The Baltimore Sun reported job cuts at the company’s Connected Fitness unit. The unit makes apps for wearable devices to allow users track fitness. About two dozen workers were affected, mostly in Copenhagen, Denmark, where Under Armour acquired fitness app Endomondo in 2015, the paper said. Under Armour stock was downgraded earlier this week at FBR & Co., where analyst Susan Anderson assigned it a rare underperform rating and slashed her price target to $14, or about 24% below its current trading level. Anderson said channel checks suggest a growing price war with Nike Inc. after UA’s entrance into department store chain Kohls Inc. . Under Armour shares are down 27% in 2017 so far, while the S&P 500 has gained 5%.

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Shares of Okta Inc. opened at $23.70 Friday, above the company’s $17 issue price, in the software company’s debut on the Nasdaq. Okta, which helps companies securely mange sign-ons, priced its IPO at $17 a share, the top end of its range, to raise $187 million. That issue price put the company’s public market capitalization above its last private valuation, when it sold shares for $12.02 at a valuation of $1.2 billion. Goldman Sachs, J.P. Morgan and Allen & Co. were the lead underwriters on the offering. The underwriters have the option to buy up to 1.65 million additional shares.

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Cruise operator Carnival Corp. & plc said Friday it is raising its quarterly dividend 14% to 40 cents a share from 35 cents. The new payment will be made June 16 to shareholders of record as of May 26. The company’s board also approved an additional $1 billion share buyback. Shares were flat Friday, but are up 13% in 2017 so far, while the S&P 500 has gained 5%.

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WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) – Wholesale inventories in the U.S. rose 0.4% in February, rebounding from a decline at the start of 2017, the government said Friday. The inventory-to-sales ratio was unchanged at 1.28 months, but it was down from 1.36 a year earlier. The ratio reflects how long it would take a company to sell all the goods sitting on warehouse shelves. A lower number is usually better than a higher one.

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