Tag: stock market

There is no “Plan B” for health care if a vote in the House on Thursday does not pass, White House press secretary Sean Spicer said Wednesday. “This bill represents the best chance of repealing and replacing Obamacare,” Spicer said about the American Health Care Act. Some conservative House members remain holdouts on the bill, saying it won’t lower premiums. Vice President Mike Pence, meanwhile, said he’s “very confident” Republicans will have the votes.

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Four people have died, including one police officer, in a terrorist attack near the Houses of Parliament in London, Metropolitan Police said late Wednesday. Twenty people have been injured, said Mark Rowley, acting deputy commissioner of the Met Police, at a press conference. The incident began Wednesday afternoon on Westminster Bridge, where a car plowed into numerous people, including three police officers. A crime scene in the area surrounding Westminster remains in place as police recover evidence.

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Oil prices nearly erased earlier losses Wednesday afternoon. Prices had been set to settle at their lowest level since late November after U.S. government data revealed a rise of 5 million barrels in crude supplies to a record 533.1 million barrels for the week ended March 17. But the data also showed that gasoline inventories fell by 2.8 million barrels. Reformulated gasoline “and the summer driving season is leading us back from the November lows on crude,” said Phil Flynn, senior market analyst at Price Futures Group. May WTI crude fell 7 cents, or 0.2%, to trade at $48.17 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange after tapping lows closer to $47.

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Starbucks Corp. plans to create 240,000 new jobs around the world, 68,000 in the U.S., the company announced along with other initiatives at its annual investor meeting Wednesday. The new jobs will come as the company opens 12,000 new cafes by fiscal 2021, 3,400 of those stores will be in the U.S. The company plans to hire 25,000 veterans and military spouses, after reaching a prior goal of hiring 10,000. Starbucks came under fire last month after President Donald Trump supporters started the #BoycottStarbucks campaign in response to the company’s pledge to hire 10,000 refugees around the world. The company has now formally partnered with the United Nations’ refugee agency to reach candidates. After announcing gluten-free and vegan additions to its menu on Tuesday, Starbucks has also announced the launch of the Starbucks Mercato menu in more than 100 Chicago stores on April 11. The lunch menu will include salads and sandwiches to meet a variety of dietary needs with leftover items donated nightly to local food banks through the Starbucks FoodShare program with Feed America. The My Starbucks Barista app, which allows voice and messaging ordering, is being rolled out to iOS users, and the mobile order-and-pay platform is being expanded to Ford Motor Co. cars equipped with Sync 3 technology later this year. This is Chief Executive Howard Schultz’s final annual meeting before moving to the executive chairman role. Kevin Johnson will succeed him on April 3, as previously announced. Starbucks shares are up 0.8% in Wednesday trading, and down 5.7% for the past year. The S&P 500 index is up 14.5% for the last 12 months.

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The Scottish parliament’s debate related to a new independence referendum was suspended on Wednesday, according to a Reuters report citing the lawmaking body’s speaker. The halt came after shots were fired near the U.K.’s Houses of Parliament in London, in an apparently concerted attack including the stabbing of a policeman and a car driving at people outside the building. Authorities said they were treating the attack as a terrorist incident. Scotland has appeared headed for a second independence referendum, sparked by the U.K.’s planned exit from the European Union.

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Two people have been shot outside U.K.’s parliament, according to a Sky News report Wednesday, and Westminster is on lockdown. An alleged assailant has been shot at the parliament by armed police, according to a Reuters report.

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The U.S. Energy Information Administration on Wednesday reported that domestic crude-oil supplies rose by 5 million barrels for the week ended March 17. That marked the tenth increase in 11 weeks. The American Petroleum Institute late Tuesday reported a 4.5 million-barrel climb, according to sources, while analysts polled by S&P Global Platts forecast a rise of 2 million barrels. Gasoline supplies fell by 2.8 million barrels, while distillate stockpiles declined by 1.9 million barrels last week, according to the EIA. May crude lost 95 cents, or 2%, to $47.29 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. It was trading at $47.69 before the supply data.

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Viacom Inc.’s Paramount Pictures is nearing a deal with industry veteran Jim Gianopulos to serve as the studio’s chairman and chief executive, according to Variety. Gianopulos is currently on his way out as chairman and chief executive at 20th Century Fox , which announced last summer that he would step down once his contract expires on June 30, 2017. If Viacom and Gianopulos agree to terms, he will take the helm following Brad Grey’s exit earlier this year. Grey led the studio for 12 years. Viacom is looking to turn its fortune around under new Chief Executive Officer Bob Bakish after a tumultuous year rife with management infighting. The company has designated its floundering Paramount Pictures film division as key to its strategy. Viacom’s publicly-owned class B shares have gained just 3% in the trailing 12-month period, while the S&P 500 index is up more than 14% during the same time frame.

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U.S. stocks opened lower on Wednesday, a day after the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the Nasdaq Composite Index posted their largest one-day losses since September. The S&P 500 index shed 1 point, or 0.1%, to 2,342, while the Dow slipped 36 points, or 0.2%, to 20,628. The Nasdaq fell 3 points, or 0.1%, to 5,790. Market strategists attributed the drop to signs that President Donald Trump and his allies in Congress might take longer to implement a slate of promised fiscal-stimulus measures than previously believed. The Republican plan for repealing and replacing Obamacare has been met with resistance from some conservative lawmakers, raising concerns that the House bill might not pass when it comes up for a vote on Thursday. In individual stock trading, Sears Holdings Corp. shares plummeted after the struggling retailer warned that the company could cease operations if its turnaround plan fails. Bank stocks struggled, with shares of Bank of America Corp. , Wells Fargo & Co. , Citigroup Inc. , J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. and Goldman Sachs Group Inc. all moving lower.

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Sears Holdings Corp. shares sank 15.4% in Wednesday premarket trading after the struggling retailer warned that it has “substantial doubt” that it would be able to “continue as a going concern” if its turnaround plan failed. Sears announced a $1 billion restructuring effort in February that includes staff cuts and store closures. In its 10-K filed Tuesday, it said it is also exploring options with its remaining assets, including the Home Services business and the Kenmore and DieHard brands. “We believe that the actions discussed above are probable of occurring and mitigating the substantial doubt raised by our historical operating results and satisfying our estimated liquidity needs 12 months from the issuance of the financial statements,” the company said. “However, we cannot predict, with certainty, the outcome of our actions to generate liquidity, including the availability of additional debt financing, or whether such actions would generate the expected liquidity as currently planned.” Sears reported outstanding borrowings of $4.2 billion as of Jan. 28, 2017, up from $2.98 billion last year. Sears shares are down 38.6% for the past year while the S&P 500 index is up 14.4% for the period.

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