Tag: stock market

The European Central Bank offered no surprises Thursday as it left interest rates unchanged. The Governing Council left the main refinancing rate at 0%, while the rate on deposits parked overnight at the bank remains at minus 0.4%. The rate on the bank’s marginal lending facility remains at 0.25%. In a statement, the bank repeated that it expects rates to remain “at present or lower levels for an extended period of time, and well past the horizon” of its bond-buying program, which is scheduled to run through at least December. The ECB also repeated that it stands ready to extend the size or the duration of the bond-buying program if the outlook deteriorates. ECB President Mario Draghi will hold a news conference at 2:30 p.m. Frankfurt time, or 8:30 a.m. Eastern.

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Shares of energy companies fell in premarket trade 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, after trading as high as $50.84 earlier in the day. May Brent crude on London’s ICE Futures exchange also erased gains, sliding $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. NRG Energy Inc. led the decliners, shedding 3.9% premarket. Chesapeake Energy Corp. slid 1.8% and Devon Energy Corp. was down 2%. Marathon Oil fell 1.8% and Cimarex Energy Co. was down 1.6%. Among oil majors, Exxon Mobil Corp. fell 0.6%, Chevron Corp. was down 0.7% and ConocoPhillips was down 0.9%. The U.S. Oil Fund exchange-traded fund was down 2.3%.

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Shares of Staples Inc. fell 1.8% in premarket trade on Thursday after the office supply retailer reported fourth-quarter earnings that were below Wall Street expectations. Staples reported a net loss of $952 million for the quarter, or 94 cents per share, after reporting net income of $86 million, or 20 cents per share during the same period a year ago. Adjusted per-share earnings came in at 25 cents, just below FactSet’s consensus for 26 cents. Sales during the fourth quarter hit $4.6 billion, compared with last year’s $4.7 billion, while analysts tracked by FactSet had forecast $5.0 billion in sales. Staples sees first-quarter earnings per share landing in the range of 15 cents to 18 cents. Analysts on FactSet are looking for earnings to come in at 17 cents per share for the first quarter. Shares of Staples have declined 6.6% during the trailing 12-month period, underperforming the S&P 500 index , which is up 18.8% in the same period.

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Signet Jewelers Ltd. said Thursday it had net income of $387.8 million, or $3.92 a share, in its fiscal fourth quarter to Jan. 28, up from $271.9 million, or $3.42 a share, in the year-earlier period. Adjusted per-share earnings came to $4.03, ahead of the FactSet consensus of $4.00. But sales fell to $2.27 billion from $2.39 billion, missing the FactSet consensus of $2.30 billion. Same-store sales fell 4.5%, more than the 4.2% FactSet consensus. “We are adapting to a challenging retail environment and weak mall traffic,” Chief Executive Mark Light said in a statement. The company is now expecting fiscal 2018 same-store sales to be down in the low-to-mid single digits, and for EPS to range from $7.00 to $7.40. The FactSet consensus is for same-store sales to rise 1.9% and for EPS of $8.26. Shares are down 31% in the year to date, while the S&P 500 has gained 5.6%.

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Oil prices suddenly turned sharply lower in Thursday trade, pushing West Texas Intermediate crude below the psychologically important $50-a-barrel level for the first time since December. The April contract dropped 79 cents, or 1.6%, to $49.51 a barrel, after trading as high as $50.84 earlier in the day. Brent for May slid 79 cents, or 1.5%, to $52.30 a barrel. Ole Hansen, head of commodity strategy at Saxo Bank, said the sudden sharp move came as traders stopped betting oil prices will higher. “In essence, traders holding longs are selling into a market where the bid is weak,” he said. On Wednesday, both WTI and Brent closed at 2017 lows after U.S. supply data showed inventories have jumped to mark a fresh record. However, earlier on Thursday, oil prices had recovered slightly.

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Fall 2018 would be a “common sense” time for a second independence referendum, Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said in a BBC interview that is being broadcast Thursday. Sturgeon also insisted, however, that no final decision had yet been made on holding such a vote, a BBC report said. A referendum at that time would come a few months before the U.K. is due to exit the European Union, adding a big wrinkle to the Brexit process.

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J.Jill Inc. late Wednesday priced its initial public offering at under the expected range. The woman’s apparel retailer said it will offer 11.7 million shares at $13 apiece for trading on the New York Stock Exchange on Thursday. The IPO was expected to price at $14 to $16 a share, according to a late February filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Underwriters have the option to buy up to 1.8 million additional shares to cover overallotments.

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E.L.F Beauty Inc. shares soared 14% late Wednesday after the cosmetics company swung to a profit in the fourth quarter and gave guidance above consensus. E.L.F said it earned $6.6 million, or 13 cents a share, in the quarter, versus a loss of $40 million, or $1,151.13 a share, in the year-ago quarter. Adjusted for one-time items, the Oakland, Calif., company earned 19 cents in the quarter, compared with 14 cents a share a year ago and beating the 13 cents FactSet consensus. Sales rose to $76.4 million in the quarter, up 17% from a year ago. The company said it expects full-year 2017 sales between $285 million and $295 million, and adjusted EPS of 40 cents to 43 cents. The FactSet consensus is for sales of $281.3 million and EPS of 36 cents for the year. E.L.F. shares are down 16.8% for the last three months while the S&P 500 index is up 5.2% for the same period.

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Tailored Brands Inc. shares fell more than 22% Wednesday after the parent of Men’s Wearhouse, Jos. A. Bank and other apparel retailers reported a wider-than-expected loss and lower sales in the fourth quarter. Tailored Brands said it lost 62 cents a share in the three-month period, compared with a loss of $21.86 a share in the same period a year ago. Sales reached $793.3 million in the quarter, down from $826 million a year ago. The company’s fourth-quarter GAAP operating loss included a $14 million charge related to fixed assets in its Macy’s tuxedo stores. Adjusted for one-time items, the company lost 19 cents a share, compared with 30 cents a share in the fourth quarter of 2015. Analysts polled by FactSet had expected an adjusted loss of 12 cents a share on sales of $811 million in the quarter. A “challenging retail environment resulted in soft traffic across our retail brands,” CEO Doug Ewert said in a statement. In anticipation of similar trends, Tailored Brands projected earnings between $1.45 a share to $1.75 a share for fiscal 2017. The outlook includes an estimated operating loss of $19 million to $20 million from the Macy’s tuxedo business, which did not ramp in 2016 as the company expected. “We are actively engaged in discussions with Macy’s to restructure our agreement. Due to the early stages of our negotiations, our current 2017 plan assumes no further Macy’s store expansion,” and a restructured agreement with the department store “will involve a different operating model,” Tailored Brands said. Shares of the company ended the regular trading day up 1.1%.

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Bankrate Inc. shares dropped in the extended session Wednesday after the online personal-finance content company’s quarterly results fell short of Wall Street expectations. Shares of Bankrate fell 10% to $9.86 after hours. The company reported adjusted fourth-quarter earnings of 16 cents a share on revenue of $113.6 million. Analysts surveyed by FactSet had estimated 19 cents a share on revenue of $120.2 million. Bankrate expects revenue of $115 million to $118 million for the first quarter, and $500 million to $515 million for the year. Analysts estimate $113.9 million for the first quarter, and $498.3 million for the year.

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