Tag: stock market

Gold prices ended in positive territory Monday, with the precious metal shaking off early softness to log a second straight gain, as assets perceived as risky came under pressure in late-morning trade in New York. June gold settled up $2.80, or 0.2%, at $1,254 an ounce, adding to Friday’s advance. The move for the precious metal comes as U.S. equity benchmarks, notably the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the S&P 500 index , retreated firmly to kick off second-quarter trade, following a report on U.S. manufacturing that disappointed Wall Street traders. The Institute for Supply Management said its manufacturing index fell slightly to 57.2% last month from 57.7% in February. That reading was a bit below the 57.8% forecast of economists polled by MarketWatch. A reading of 50 or better indicates economic expansion. Precious metals also gained amid news of explosions on a St. Petersburg’s subway on Monday which killed at least 10 people. Seen as a haven asset, gold tends to draw bidders on news of attacks or during political uncertainty.

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Sen. Chris Coons of Delaware became the 41st Democrat to announce he’ll join a filibuster against Judge Neil Gorsuch, President Donald Trump’s nominee to the Supreme Court. The move means Democrats have enough votes to block Gorsuch — but Senate Republicans may respond by triggering what is known as the nuclear option, or changing Senate rules to confirm him with a simple majority.

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Mylan NV’s EpiPen recall, which the company said late last week would extend to the U.S., will likely have a low impact on the company’s revenue, Evercore ISI analyst Umer Raffat said Monday. The main cost to Mylan will be replacing the recalled EpiPens, all of which are expiring in the next several months, and thus delaying the purchase of new EpiPens for affected patients by about a year, Raffat said. He estimated the cost at about 3%, or $21 million of Mylan’s expected $650 million in U.S. EpiPen sales this year. The EpiPen recall, which Mylan had previously said was confined to about 81,000 EpiPens distributed in Australia, New Zealand, Europe and Japan, was expanded to the U.S. on Friday as a “precautionary measure,” since there is the possibility the products have a defective part and might not work in an emergency situation, Mylan said. The U.S. recall applies to 13 lots distributed between December 2015 and July 2016, which Raffat estimated at about 260,000 devices. The products affected by the recall are expected to expire in April, September and October of this year. The recall was prompted by reports of two EpiPens outside of the U.S. failing to activate, and the single lot they were from has already been recalled, Mylan said. Raffat said that it’s “comforting to know that this additional recall is more precautionary rather than on the heels of additional malfunction cases.” Mylan hasn’t filed any financial disclosures about how the recall will affect its business but, according to Bernstein analyst Ronny Gal, “Mylan is doing the math and will consider putting out some disclosure on financial implications.” Mylan shares declined 8.6% over the last three months, compared with a 4.2% rise in the S&P 500 .

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South Africa’s currency and its stocks tumbled on Monday after S&P Global Ratings cut the country’s sovereign credit rating into junk territory. The ratings agency cited last week’s firing of respected finance minister Pravin Gordhan by President Jacob Zuma as the catalyst for the decision, saying Gordhan’s ouster “increased the likelihood that economic growth…could suffer.” The rand fell 2% to 13.68 to the dollar following the decision, compared with 13.42 late Friday in New York. The iShares MSCI South Africa Exchange-Traded Fund, which track’s the country’s stock market, was off 1.5% at $54.38 in recent trade. Both the rand, and the country’s stocks, sold off sharply last week after Zuma recalled Gordhan from an investor roadshow abroad, igniting speculation that the finance minister would soon be fired. The rand had been until recently one of the best-performing emerging-market currencies, but has fallen about 7% against the dollar in the past week. Both Fitch and Moody’s Investors Service maintain investment-grade credit ratings on the country’s debt.

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Shares of Panera Bread Co. soared to a record high in midday trade Monday, after Bloomberg reported that the fast-casual restaurant chain was exploring a possible sale. The stock was trading up about 1.2% just before noon ET, then shot up as much as 12% in intraday trade, before paring some gains to trade up 10%. Panera is working with advisers to study its options after receiving takeover interest, Bloomberg reported, citing people with knowledge of the matter. The company’s current market capitalization is $6.48 billion, according to FactSet. The stock has soared 40% year to date, while the S&P 500 has gained 4.8%.

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In a sign of how the market’s upward trend has been waning, both the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the S&P 500 are mere points from their 50-day moving averages, a level that is often seen as a measure of near-term momentum. If the indexes close below the technically significant point, that would represent the first time that they did so since Nov. 8 – the day of the U.S. presidential election, where Donald Trump’s victory spurred an extended rally that took indexes to repeated records. The indexes did break below the moving average on a session in late March, but they subsequently recovered to end above it. Were they to close below the level, that could spur additional selling. At 20,567, the Dow is currently 0.1% above its 50-day moving average of 20,547.48, according to FactSet. The S&P is 0.3% above its moving average of 2,340.96. Both indexes are down about 0.5% on Monday. The Nasdaq Composite Index , which has been a stronger performer thus far in 2017, is 1.6% above its 50-day moving average.

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Novocure Ltd. shares surged 49.4% in morning trade Monday after the company said its late-stage clinical trial in newly diagnosed glioblastoma showed positive results. Novocure found that the two-year survival rate for patients improved from 30% to 43% after its drug Optune was added to standard temozolomide chemotherapy, and the five-year survival rate increased from 5% to 13%. Glioblastoma is a common type of brain cancer — about 12,500 people are diagnosed with it in the U.S. each year, according to Novocure — and is considered extremely aggressive. Novocure described its results, which were presented at the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting in Washington, D.C. on Sunday, as “the best results reported for newly diagnosed GBM patients in a phase 3 trial to date” and said they represented “clinically meaningful increases in landmark survival.” Shares of the United Kingdom-based biotech company were valued at $12.30 as of midday Monday. The stock has surged 56.7% over the last three months, compared with a 4.1% rise in the S&P 500 .

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Marijuana dispensaries are preparing for increased foot traffic and exploring ways to keep business strong as warm weather, tax refund season and the industry’s 4/20 holiday are approaching. Dispensaries in Colorado and Washington, surveyed by ConvergeX analysts Nicholas Colas and Jessica Rabe, say they average 100 to 400 people a day, but believe they could see well north of 500 customers come April 20. Stores have been stocking up in preparation, according to ConvergeX. Last year, marijuana sales on April 20 reached record highs. While dispensaries prepare for an increase in customers, they are also reporting downward pricing pressure as competition intensifies. Stores have had to run multiple discounts and promotions, with some telling ConvergeX in order to compete with mass producers they have to provide better quality. In Colorado and Washington, dispensaries are also running local ads to help attract more customers.

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Shares of Under Armour Inc. slumped 2.4% in morning trade Monday, after FBR & Co. turned bearish on the athletic apparel company, citing a brewing price war with rival Nike Inc. at Kohl’s Inc. , as well as changing customer preferences. Analyst Susan Anderson cut her rating to a rare underperform from market perform, and slashed her price target to $14, which is 28% below current levels, from $20. Only 1.6% of the companies covered by FBR analyst had underperform ratings. “Our checks show a price war is intensifying between [Nike] and [Under Armour] after UA’s entrance into [Kohl’s], which is causing [Nike] to defend its turf,” Anderson wrote in a note to clients. “Also, a lack of UA footwear innovation, increased competitor innovation–Nike VaporMax–and out footwear survey showing UA is losing consumer resonance could mean lower 2017 footwear growth.” The stock has plunged 33% year to date, while Nike shares have rallied 8.8% and the S&P 500 has gained 4.9%.

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Shares of AMC Entertainment Inc. were up 1.6% in morning trade on Monday after the company’s stock was upgraded to outperform by analysts at FBR & Co. Lead analyst Barton Crockett wrote in a note to clients that AMC’s quick completion of its $964 million acquisition of Nordic Cinema Group and its opportunity to outperform its peers in revenue, thanks in part to re-seats, are key points in upgrading the stock. Crockett also increased his 12-month price target to $37 from $33. “Additionally, this looks like a comparatively stronger year for Imax movies than last year, a helpful backdrop fro Imax-exposed AMC,” Crockett wrote. “So we assume that in most quarters this year, AMC can outperform industry domestice box office trend on a comparable basis on its domestic screens.” AMC shares have gained more than 11% in the last 12 months, while the S&P 500 index is 14% during the same period.

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