Tag: stock market

New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman said Thursday he is joining the lawsuit against President Donald Trump’s latest immigration ban. Schneiderman says he will join Washington State Attorney General Bob Ferguson, Minnesota Attorney General Lori Swanson and fellow attorneys general in the suit, which was filed in the Western District of Washington. “President Trump’s latest executive order is a Muslim Ban by another name, imposing policies and protocols that once again violate the Equal Protection Clause and Establishment Clause of the United State Constitution,” Schneiderman said in a statement. He praised the “smart, aggressive” litigation by state attorneys general and civil rights advocates that brought down the first ban, which was imposed on seven Muslim-majority countries. The White House’s latest version excludes Iraq from the list. “I am pleased that as state AGs, we are now marshaling our resources to fight Trump’s latest, unconstitutional decree in the Ninth Circuit,” he said.

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From:: Stock Market News

Health policy experts at the Brookings Institution said Thursday that they expect the independent Congressional Budget Office’s analysis of House Republicans’ health care bill to project a loss of health care coverage for at least 15 million people over ten years. “Estimates could be higher, but it’s unlikely they will be significantly lower,” the Brookings experts said. House Republicans’ plan, released this week and titled the American Health Care Act, is expected to have a CBO score by the end of the week. The Brookings researchers noted a CBO estimate that repealing the Affordable Care Act’s individual mandate alone would likely reduce the insured population by 15 million. Other factors should increase that number, the experts said, such as cuts to state Medicaid programs and changes to individual market subsidies, both laid out in House Republicans’ “Trumpcare” plan. The bill could have some positive effects on insured populations, including its penalty for those who don’t maintain continuous health care coverage, the experts said. But “it’s plausible that the AHCA will increase the number of uninsured persons by more than 15 million, and unlikely that we’ll see a number much less than 15 million from the CBO,” the experts said. Health Care Select Sector SPDR has surged 9.5% over the last three months, compared with a 4.3% rise in the S&P 500 .

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White House press secretary Sean Spicer said Thursday the Trump administration would work with Congress to address the issue of the debt limit. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin wrote to congressional leaders in a letter dated March 8 that the limit should be raised “at the first opportunity.” The suspension of the debt limit expires next week but analysts say the government will be able to take measures to meet obligations through the fall.

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Data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration Thursday showed that domestic supplies of natural gas fell by 68 billion cubic feet for the week ended March 3. Analysts expected inventories to decline by 58 billion cubic feet, on average, according to S&P Global Platts. The EIA said its figures included a “reclassification” of stocks, which resulted in a decrease of about 4 bcf in one specific region. Total stocks now stand at 2.295 trillion cubic feet, down 192 billion cubic feet from a year ago, but 363 billion cubic feet above the five-year average, the government said. April natural gas rose 5.6 cents, or 1.9%, from Wednesday’s settlement to $2.956 per million British thermal units.

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Shares of energy companies were mostly lower Thursday, after crude futures dropped below $50 a barrel for the first time in 2017. The April contract slid $1.41, or 2.8%, to $48.88 a barrel, while May Brent crude on London’s ICE Futures exchange slid $1.42, or 2.7%, to $51.69 a barrel. Traders in London said the drop came as traders stopped betting oil prices will go higher and sold out of their long positions. The selling intensified in premarket trade, but eased after the market open as crude prices pared their losses.Halliburton Co. fell 1.4%, Occidental Petroleum Corp. fell 1.1% Devon Energy Corp. was down 1.4%. Cimarex Energy Co. was down 0.1%. Among oil majors, Exxon Mobil Corp. fell 0.1%, Chevron flat. The U.S. Oil Fund exchange-traded fund was down 1.4%. The S&P 500 gained 0.1%. Marathon Oil outperformed, gaining 4.2%, after it announced it is selling its Canadian subsidiary for $2.5 billion in cash, and buying about 70,000 net surface acres in the U.S.’s Permian Basin from BC Operating Inc. and other entities for $1.1 billion in cash.

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The euro [s:eurusd] jumped to an almost one-week high against the dollar on Thursday, after signals from the European Central Bank President Mario Draghi that interest rates are unlikely to be cut further. The shared currency bought as much as $1.0617, its highest level since last Friday. The euro traded at $1.0542 late Wednesday in New York. Draghi noted that the ECB no longer feels it needs to convey a “sense of urgency” in taking further action to ease policy. He also said the policy makers had not discussed another round of cheap loans to banks in the form of targeted longer-term refinancing operations, or TLTROs. “Deflation is no longer the concern for the ECB — prices are not rising fast enough to warrant tapering or higher rates, but the imminent risk of deflation has passed. That’s something of a watershed moment — the end of the beginning in terms of unconventional monetary policy tools perhaps,” said Neil Wilson, senior market analyst at ETX Capital, in a note.

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U.S. stock-market indexes opened nearly unchanged on Thursday, weighed down by energy companies, which were hit by falling oil prices. The April contract slid 1%, to $49.79 a barrel on top of a 5.4% drop on Wednesday. Closing lower would mark the fourth-straight session of losses. Thursday also marks the eighth anniversary of the cyclical bull market for U.S. stocks, during which the S&P 500 rose 250%. On Thursday, the S&P 500 opened flat at 2,363. Oil companies, such as Transocean Lts and Haliburton Company dropped more than 2% at the open, while the energy sector was down 0.7%. The Nasdaq Composite began the session down 2 points at 5,833. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up up by 8 points to 20,862 at the open.

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Shares of Sears Holdings Corp. were up nearly 7% in premarket trade on Thursday after the company reported a smaller fourth-quarter loss and revenue that was better than Wall Street expected. Sears reported a net loss of $607 million, or $5.67 per share for the quarter, compared with a loss of $580 million, or $5.44 per share during the year-prior period. The company’s adjusted loss per share came in at $1.28, while analysts surveyed by FactSet had forecast the company would post a loss of $2.85 per share. Revenue for the quarter hit $6.1 billion, down from $7.3 billion in the year-earlier period, but above FactSet’s $5.9 billion consensus. Shares of Sears have declined more than 56% during the trailing 12-month period, underperforming the S&P 500 index , which is up nearly 19%.

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Stanley Black & Decker shares surged more than 5% in premarket trade Thursday, after the company closed its deal to buy the Craftsman brand from Sears Holding Corp. for about $900 million in cash. The deal, first announced on Jan. 5, gives the company the right to develop and sell Craftsman products outside of Sears stores. Stanley Black & Decker said it expects the deal to immediately boost earnings, adding about 8 cents to share to 2017 earnings per share, excluding about $20 million of costs. The company is now expecting 2017 adjusted EPS of $6.74 to $6.94, compared with a FactSet consensus of $6.95. Shares have gained about 30% in the last 12 months, while the S&P 500 has gained 19%.

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American International Group Inc. said Thursday its chief executive, Peter Hancock, has informed the board of his intention to resign his position. The insurer said Hancock has agreed to remain at the company until a successor has been found. The CEO was named to the role in September 2014, after serving as CEO of the AIG Property Casualty. The executive joined the company in 2010 as executive vice president of financial, risk and investments. “Without wholehearted shareholder support for my continued leadership, a protracted period of uncertainty could undermine the progress we have made and damage the interests of our policyholders, employees, regulators, debtholders, and shareholders,” he said in a statement. AIG shares rose 2% in premarket trade and are up 23% in the last 12 months, while the S&P 500 has gained 19% and the Dow Jones Industrial Average has gained 23%.

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