Tag: stock market

The Securities and Exchange Commission got a court order on Friday to freeze the brokerage accounts of Shaohua (Michael) Yin, a partner at Summitview Capital Management Ltd., a Hong Kong-based private equity firm, alleging the accounts hold more than $29 million in illegal profits from insider trading in advance of the acquisition of DreamWorks Animation SKG, Inc. by Comcast Corp [s:cmcsa] in April 2016. The SEC’s order alleges Yin accumulated more than $56 million of DreamWorks stock in the U.S. brokerage accounts of five Chinese nationals, including his elderly parents, accounting for 16.9% of all market trading in DreamWorks during that period. DreamWorks stock price rose 47.3% once the acquisition was announced. The SEC also alleges the accounts profited from other suspicious trading in another U.S.-based company and three China-based companies ahead of market-moving news. The SEC is seeking a permanent injunction, return of allegedly ill-gotten profits, civil money penalties, and other relief. “The SEC’s data analytic investigative tools enabled us to determine who was behind the suspicious trading,” said Michele Wein Layne, director of the SEC’s Los Angeles Regional Office in a press release. The SEC’s investigation continues and was aided by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority.

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Ford Motor Co. said Friday it would invest $1 billion over five years in Argo AI, an artificial intelligence company based in Pittsburgh, aiming at developing a virtual driver system for Ford’s driverless car coming in 2021. Argo AI founders Bryan Salesky, the company’s chief executive, and Peter Rander, chief operating officer, led the self-driving car teams of Alphabet Inc. and Uber, Ford said. “Argo AI’s agility and Ford’s scale uniquely combine the benefits of a technology startup with the experience and discipline of the automaker’s industry-leading autonomous vehicle development program,” Ford said in a statement. Ford last year announced plans to sell driverless cars by 2021 and unveiled partnerships and investments in the arena, as well as buying a San Francisco-based shuttle startup. Shares of Ford rose 3% on Friday.

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Ford Motor Co. said Friday it is investing $1 billion in Argo AI, an artificial intelligence company that will help it develop its self-driving vehicle. The company said Argo will help it develop a virtual driver system for the self-driving car coming in 2021, and that it may license the system to other companies. Argo AI was founded by former Google and Uber employees from their self-driving car teams. Ford will become a majority investor in the company. The investment will be made over five years. Ford shares were up 0.9% in late trade, but have gained 10% in the last 12 months, underperforming the S&P 500’s 24% gain.

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Oil futures climbed Friday after the International Energy Agency lifted its forecast for global crude demand, but prices finished just 3 cents above the week-ago settlement. March West Texas Intermediate crude rose 86 cents, or 1.6%, to settle at $53.86 a barrel. That was the highest finish since Feb. 1, but prices barely gained from last Friday’s settlement of $56.83, according to FactSet data.

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Gold futures pared their losses shortly before the settlement on Friday, finding some support as the U.S. dollar lost ground. The greenback fell against the Japanese yen , in particular, as U.S. President Donald Trump held a press conference with Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. April gold fell 90 cents, or less than 0.1%, to settle at $1,235.90 an ounce after trading as low as $1,222.60. For the week, prices tacked on roughly 1.2%.

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Daniel Tarullo, the Federal Reserve governor who is most known for his role in setting the central bank’s regulatory policy, said he will resign on or around April 5. Tarullo has been a member of the Fed’s board since 2009. The 64-year-old’s term was due to expire in 2022. Tarullo, though mostly known for his role in bank regulation, was seen as an ally of Fed chief Janet Yellen on issues of monetary policy. “Dan led the Fed’s work to craft a new framework for ensuring the safety and soundness of our financial system following the financial crisis and made invaluable contributions across the entire range of the Fed’s responsibilities,” Yellen said in a statement.

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Data from Baker Hughes Friday revealed that the number of active U.S. rigs drilling for oil rose by 8 to 591 rigs this week. That marked the fourth weekly increase in a row. The total active U.S. rig count, which includes oil and natural-gas rigs, also rose by 12 to 741, according to Baker Hughes. March West Texas Intermediate crude held onto earlier gains after the figures, trading up 90 cents, or 1.7%, at $53.90 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

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U.S. stocks opened higher on Friday, putting major indexes on track for a week of solid gains after President Donald Trump said he would soon announce a “phenomenal” tax plan. Markets had rallied in the wake of Trump’s election, in large part on hopes for corporate tax cuts and deregulation, but the move higher stalled after his inauguration as investors grew frustrated that his focus turned to measures like the travel ban rather than economic policy. Financial stocks, which are expected to be among the biggest beneficiaries of Trump’s economic policies, rose 0.3%. Goldman Sachs Group Inc and Morgan Stanley were among the biggest gainers in the sector, with both rising 0.6%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 42 points, or 0.2%, to 20,219. The S&P 500 gained 3 points to 2,311, a gain of 0.2%. The Nasdaq Composite Index added 11 points, or 0.2%, to 5,726.

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A bomb plot that French police described as an imminent terror attack was reportedly foiled Friday morning in the southern city Montpellier. Home-made explosives that shared characteristics with those used in the Paris attacks of November 2015 were discovered in an anti-terror raid of an apartment in the city, according to the BBC. Three men and a 16-year-old girl, who was reported to have made jihadist declarations online, were arrested, according to the report. A France 24 report cited an anonymous police source as having said one of the suspects was believed to be plotting a suicide attack.

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Catalyst Biosciences Inc. will do a reverse stock split of one-for-fifteen effective Friday in order to maintain its Nasdaq listing, the company said. Catalyst stock was priced at 55 cents per share as of Thursday’s close, and Nasdaq requires a minimum bid price of $1 for at least 10 consecutive days, which Catalyst must meet by May 30. The split will transition about 13 million pre-split shares to under 900,000 post-split shares on Feb. 13. Catalyst shares have sunk 17.9% over the last three months, compared with a 6.5% rise in the S&P 500 .

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