Tag: stock market

Oil futures climbed back toward session highs on Thursday following reports of violence near Libya’s biggest oil terminal. Bloomberg reported that workers were evacuated from the Es Sider oil port as fighting escalated nearby. East Libyan forces said they carried out air strikes and clashed with rival factions Friday close to major oil terminals, according to Reuters. April West Texas Intermediate crude rose 57 cents, or 1.1%, to $53.18 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. May Brent crude added 58 cents, or 1.1%, to $55.66 a barrel on the ICE Futures exchange in London. “Remember one of the reasons some are skeptical about the success of OPEC cuts is because some producers like Libya have no production cap,” said Phil Flynn, senior market analyst at Price Futures Group. “Maybe the fighting has put that cap in for a while.”

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WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) — The Securities and Exchange Commission said a Mexican homebuilder reported fake sales of more than 100,000 homes. Desarrolladora Homex S.A.B. de C.V. inflated the number of homes sold during a three-year period by approximately 317% and overstated its revenue by 355%, or approximately $3.3 billion, the SEC said. Homex filed for the Mexican equivalent of bankruptcy protection in April 2014 and emerged in October 2015 under new equity ownership. Homex cooperated with the SEC investigation, the agency said, and neither admitted nor denied the findings.

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WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) — Federal authorities arrested a man for making a wave of threats to Jewish community centers throughout the country. Juan Thompson of St. Louis allegedly stalked a former romantic interest by making bomb threats in her name to JCCs and to the Anti-Defamation League, the U.S. government says.

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Uber drivers in London face having to take a written English language test, after the ride-hailing company lost a court battle Friday. The U.K. High Court decided Uber Technologies Inc. is subject to new rules being introduced by Transport for London, according to media reports. One requirement calls for private hire drivers to be able to pass the literacy test, which includes a 120-word essay, if they are a native of a non-English speaking country. The presiding justice acknowledged 40,000 drivers could miss out on a license to operate as a result. Transport for London brought in the rules after facing complaints from the black-cab industry. Uber has said it will appeal the court decision, the Financial Times reported.

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Stocks opened mostly lower on Friday as investors awaited comments from Federal Reserve Chairwoman Janet Yellen and Vice Chairman Stanley Fischer. The S&P 500 index slipped two points, or 0.1%, to 2,380, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average was flat at 21,006. The Nasdaq Composite Index shed seven points, or 0.1%, to 5,854. Caterpillar Inc. shares eased amid reports of a raid by federal authorities. Shares of Big Lots Inc. rose after the company beat profit expectations but missed sales forecasts. In other markets, the Mexican peso soared to a new postelection high against the dollar following comments from Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross. The market-based probability of an interest-rate hike at the Fed’s coming March meeting were above 75% on Friday, compared with around 30% a week ago, as a bevy of Fed speakers appeared to signal that a rate hike was likely. Investors will be watching to see if Yellen and Fischer confirm this view.

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The Mexican peso shot to a fresh postelection high on Friday after Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said during an interview on CNBC that the battered currency could receive a boost if the U.S. and its southern neighbor manage to work out a “good” trade deal. The dollar was off 2.2% at 19.56 pesos in recent trade, compared with 20 pesos late Thursday in New York. Ross also spoke of the need to implement some kind of stability mechanism for the Mexican currency, which has been extremely volatile in recent months. The peso has fallen in part because President Donald Trump has pledged to renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement.

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Snapchat parent Snap Inc. was initiated at Susquehanna Financial with a neutral rating, saying any upside from near-term “eurphoria” and potential product innovations are offset by concerns over competition and valuations over the longer term. Analyst Shyam Patil set a $22 price target on the stock, which is 29% above Snap’s IPO price of $17, but 2% below Thursday’s first-day closing price of $24.48. “Euphoria could cause a short-term disconnect between fundamentals and valuation, but longer-term we struggle to see Snap as an investment with meaningful upside potential from current levels,” Patil wrote in a note to clients. Patil expects new products to help daily average users (DAU) rebound in the near term, and believes Snap’s total addressable market is “undeniably large,” he is concerned about competitive positioning over time with the launch of Facebook Inc.’s Instagram Stories. On Thursday, Instinet started coverage of Snap with a reduce rating and Pivotal Research initiated it with a sell. Currently, the average rating of the six analysts surveyed by FactSet is the equivalent of underweight and the average stock price target is $16.50. Meanwhile, the stock gained 0.7% in premarket trade, while early indications suggested a 0.1% decline for the S&P 500 .

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The Mexican peso shot higher on Friday after Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said during an interview on CNBC that the battered Mexican currency could receive a boost if the U.S. and its southern neighbor manage to work out a good trade deal. The dollar was off 1.3% at 19.75 pesos in recent trade, compared with 20 pesos late Thursday in New York. Ross also spoke of the need to implement some kind of stability mechanism for the Mexican currency, which has been extremely volatile in recent months. The peso has fallen in part because President Donald Trump has pledged to renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement.

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ChemChina’s planned $43 billion purchase of Swiss firm Syngenta and the combination of Dow Chemical and Dupont are nearing European antitrust clearance, the Financial Times reports Friday, citing inside knowledge from an unnamed participant in the Dow-DuPont talks. It’s believed that approval for that deal would clear the way for ChemChina and Syngenta. These are the first two of three politically charged mega mergers worth nearly $250 billion in the global food industry. Dow-DuPont’s $140 billion merger is reportedly on track for approval in March after the companies offered to sell some research and development capability, according to people involved in the process, the FT said. The third big deal is Bayer’s $66 billion purchase of Monsanto , which was announced last September and will start its European approval process before the summer.

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Big Lots Inc. reported fiscal fourth-quarter earnings of $90.1 million, or $1.99 a share, compared with $94.5 million, or $1.91 a share, in the same period a year ago. Excluding non-recurring items, adjusted earnings per share came to $2.26, above the FactSet consensus of $2.22. Revenue fell 0.3% to $1.58 billion, just shy of the FactSet consensus of $1.59 billion. The closeout retailer attributed the decline in sales to same-store sales growth of 0.3%, which missed expectations of a 1.1% increase, that was offset by a lower store count. Looking ahead, the company expects first-quarter EPS of 95 cents to $1.05 and 2017 EPS of $3.95 to $4.10. The FactSet consensus is $1.01 for the first quarter and $4.45 for the year. Big Lots expects first-quarter same-store sales to be flat to up 2%, surrounding the FactSet consensus of up 0.4%. The stock, which is still inactive in premarket trade, has gained 1.7% over the past three months, while the SPDR S&P Retail ETF has lost 5% and the S&P 500 has climbed 8.7%.

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