Tag: stock market

Universal Standard, a women’s fashion brand that describes itself as “size-inclusive,” said Friday that it has closed a $7 million round of Series A funding. The funding round was led by Imaginary Ventures with additional participation from actress and Goop founder Gwyneth Paltrow, Elizabeth Cutler, co-founder of SoulCycle, and Blake Mycoskie, founder of the Toms brand of shoes, apparel and accessories. Universal Standard says it will use the money to extend its range to sizes 6 to 32. Currently, it offers sizes 10 to 28. The company also plans to make executive hires, build showrooms nationwide and grow into new categories. Universal Standard launched an eight-piece collection in fall 2016, and now offers workwear, coats, activewear, and more. The SPDR S&P Retail ETF is up 9.2% for the last three months while the S&P 500 index is up 5% for the period.

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The Federal Reserve should stop shrinking its balance sheet when it gets down to a level somewhere higher than $2.9 trillion, said New York Fed President William Dudley on Friday. During comments at a Chicago Booth monetary policy forum, Dudley said he thought the Fed needed a large balance sheet to set a floor for short-term interest rates. The Fed has started to slowly shrink its balance sheet from $4.5 trillion but has not yet specified at what level it would stop. Dudley may not have a say in the final decision as he is set to retire later this year. But the New York Fed’s views carry a lot of weight at the central bank as they are in charge of the market implementation of central bank policy.

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President Donald Trump said Friday that it’s time to make schools harder targets for potential mass shootings. “Why do we protect our banks and government buildings, but not our schools?” Trump said at the Conservative Political Action Conference. Trump said making schools what he called gun-free zones puts students in more danger and reiterated a call for “gun-adept” teachers to carry firearms.

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The Federal Reserve is planning further gradual interest-rate increases but still plans to keep the federal funds rates on the low side, the central bank said Friday in its monetary policy report to Congress. The report, which Chairman Jerome Powell will testify about next week, couched monetary policy in very similar terms to the statement the Fed gave at its last policy meeting in January. The Fed didn’t seem alarmed about recent pay developments, saying the “growth of labor compensation has been moderate.” On the stock market, the Fed said valuation pressures remain elevated and that there are signs nonbank financial leverage has been building, including to hedge funds that invest in stocks.

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NEW YORK (MarketWatch) — Asset purchases, or quantitative easing, by the Federal Reserve is an effective stimulus tool if the economy falters and interest rates go back to zero, said New York Fed President William Dudley, on Friday. In remarks to the Chicago Booth monetary policy forum, Dudley said he disagreed with one of the conclusions of a paper by prominent Wall Street economists that argued quantitative easing may only have a modest impact to help get the economy out of a downturn. Dudley said asset purchases work best when they are open-ended. He also said the Fed should be able to buy mortgage-backed securities in the next crisis, despite calls by some in Congress and on Wall Street to curb such purchases.

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Shares of Cinemark Holdings Inc. surged 5% Friday, after the company blew past profit estimates for the fourth quarter and raised its dividend. Plano, Tx.-based Cinemark said it had net income of $95.1 million, or 82 cents a share, in the quarter, up from $77.0 million, or 66 cents a share, in the year-earlier period. revenue rose to $750.0 million from $700.9 million. The FactSet consensus was for EPS of 48 cents and revenue of $746.0 million. Admissions revenue rose 4.5%, while concession revenues rose 10%. Chief Executive Mark Zoradi said the earnings beat came even as the U.S. box office was weaker than in the year-earlier period. The company is now raising its dividend by 10% to $1.28 a share on an annualized basis. The fourth-quarter dividend of 32 cents will be paid on March 22 to shareholders of record as of March 8. MKM analysts said the earnings were better than they were expecting. “Cinemark once again demonstrated its consistent ability to outpace the industry on an absolute growth basis and on a per screen basis. These datapoints further our view of Cinemark as the best in class operator,” said analyst Eric Handler, who has a buy rating on the stock. Shares have fallen 3.3% in the last 12 months, while the S&P 500 has gained 15%.

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Fitch Ratings downgraded Coca-Cola Co.’s rating to A from A-plus on Friday, after the company unveiled long-term financial targets that signaled that additional debt reduction is not a company priority. Coca-Cola is targeting a net debt leverage ratio of 2.0 times to 2.5 times, using $7 billion of offshore cash to pay down debt, a $4.6 billion tax on accumulated foreign earnings, share repurchases of up to $1 billion in 2018 and a long-term dividend pay-out ratio of 75%. “The ratings downgrade reflects materially higher net leverage compared to Fitch’s previous expectations,” the agency said in a statement. Fitch also views the new targets as providing the company with the means to pursue bolt-on acquisitions to broaden its beverage portfolio, while continue to reward shareholders with dividends and share buybacks. Shares were up 0.5% Friday, and have gained 5% in the last 12 months, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average has gained 20% and the S&P 500 has gained 15%.

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Shares of Western Digital Corp. are up 3.9% in Friday morning trading after analysts at Stifel resumed coverage with a buy rating and took an upbeat view on the role of hard disk drives going forward. The analysts, led by Kevin Cassidy, believe that “increased data generation will keep [hard disk drives] relevant” and that safety concerns surrounding new autonomous driving technologies will stir demand for “large capacity” drives. They’re optimistic about the company’s new microwave assisted magnetic recording (MAMR) drives and think that a joint venture with Toshiba “provides stability.” The analysts also resumed coverage of Seagate Technology PLC with a hold rating. Western Digital shares are up 18% over the past 12 months, while Seagate shares are up 11% and the S&P 500 Index is up 15%.

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Shares of sandwich chain Potbelly Corp. soared 7% in early trade Friday, after upbeat guidance offset a revenue miss in the fourth quarter. Chicago-based Potbelly said it had a net loss of $7.3 million, or 29 cents a share, in the quarter, after net income of $2.0 million, or 8 cents a share, in the year-earlier period. The loss includes a $5.7 million tax charge and a $5.0 million impairment charge. Adjusted per-share earnings came to 8 cents, matching the FactSet consensus. Revenue rose 9.6% to $112.1 million, just below the FactSet consensus of $113.0 million. Same-store sales fell 2.4%, wider than the FactSet consensus for a decline of 1.8%. For 2018, the company said it expects same-store sales growth to be flat, and adjusted EPS to range from 37 cents to 39 cents. That’s better than the FactSet consensus for same-store sales to fall 0.2% and EPS to come in at 36 cents. Shares have fallen 3.8% in the last 12 months, while the S&P 500 has gained 15%.

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Shares of Altaba Inc. gained 0.9% in Friday morning trading after MKM Partners analyst Rob Sanderson raised his price target on shares to $112 from $76 ahead of the company’s strategy call with investors that’s set to take place next Tuesday. Altaba has a stake in Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. . “We believe that management is highly focused on unlocking shareholder value,” he wrote. “Now that details of tax reform are more conclusive, we expect the company will take more aggressive action.” His price target increase reflects a “substantially lower tax rate assumption” and his recently increased target for Alibaba. Separately, analysts at J.P. Morgan raised their price target to $95 from $60. They wrote that Altaba “now trades at a ~26% discount to pre-tax NAV, tighter than the ~31% discount at the time of our initiation, but now wider than our estimated effective tax rate.” Altaba shares are up 66% in the past 12 months, while the S&P 500 Index is up 15%.

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