Tag: stock market

The Mexican peso strengthened against the U.S. dollar on Thursday after the country’s central bank raised its benchmark interest rate by half a percentage point. Banxico, as the central bank is widely known, has now raised interest rates by half a percentage point three times since U.S. President Donald Trump’s victory in the Nov. 8 election. The dollar fell 0.8% to 20.34 pesos after the decision, compared with 20.50 pesos late Wednesday in New York. The peso, which fell to record lows in the wake of Trump’s election, has recovered in the months since as investors adopted a wait-and-see approach regarding Trump’s trade policies. Trump has embraced unabashedly protectionist rhetoric, warning that he’d like to renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement between the U.S., Mexico and Canada, or possibly scrap it all together. He has also threatened to impose steep tariffs on Mexican imports. These moves could damage the Mexican economy because the U.S. is its largest trading partner. The rate hike was widely anticipated by economists.

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From:: Stock Market News

Gold futures eased back Thursday from a five-session climb as some strength in the U.S. dollar and gains in the stock market dulled investor interest in the precious metal. April gold fell $2.70, or 0.2%, to settle at $1,236.80 an ounce, after settling Wednesday at its highest level in about three months.

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Nordstrom Inc. shares continued their rally Thursday, extending their prior-day 4% gain, as investors shrugged off President Donald Trump’s criticism of the department store chain for dropping his daughter Ivanka’s line and his son’s call for a boycott. The shares climbed another 3.3% Thursday, after Trump senior advisor Kellyanne Conway said on Fox News, “Go buy Ivanka’s stuff.” Nordstrom shares are now up nearly 5% on the week, while the S&P 500 has gained 0.5%.

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Shares of Vista Outdoor Inc. plunged 22% toward record lows in active midday trade Thursday, after the guns and ammunition maker beat fiscal third-quarter profit expectations, but missed on sales and slashed its full-year outlook. The stock, which was the biggest decliner listed on the NYSE, was on track to suffer its largest one-day percentage selloff since it went public on Jan. 29, 2015. Volume of 5.3 million shares was more than triple the full-day average. For the quarter to Jan. 1, Vista swung to a loss of $377.7 million, or $6.44 a share, from a profit of $43.2 million, or 70 cent a share, in the same period a year ago. Excluding non-recurring items, such as asset impairment charges, adjusted earnings per share were 62 cents, above the FactSet consensus of 58 cents. Revenue rose to $653.6 million from $592.6 million, but missed expectations of $671.3 million. Vista now expects full fiscal-year adjusted EPS of $1.95 to $2.10 and revenue of $2.50 billion to $2.54 billion, compared with guidance provided in November of EPS of $2.72 to $2.78 and revenue of $2.65 billion to $2.85 billion. “The challenging retail environment we experienced in our first and second quarters worsened in our third quarter following a slow hunting season and the national elections,” said Chief Executive Mark DeYoung. “This resulted in the need for increased promotional activity to support sales and maintain market share.” The stock has plummeted 47% over the past three months, while the S&P 500 has gained 6.7%.

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From:: Stock Market News

The Big 3 stock market indexes all rallied to record highs Thursday, but the number of stocks hitting 52-week highs have dropped sharply, which could suggest that participation in the rally may be waning. There were 104 stocks on the NYSE that hit 52-weeks highs through morning trade, and 126 stocks hitting highs on the Nasdaq exchange. On Jan. 26, the last time the Dow Jones Industrial Average , the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq Composite all reached all-time intraday highs on the same day, 257 NYSE stocks and 192 Nasdaq stocks hit 52-week highs. On Dec. 8, 465 NYSE stocks and 514 Nasdaq stocks hit new highs, as the Dow, S&P 500 and Nasdaq all surged to fresh records.

Market Pulse Stories are Rapid-fire, short news bursts on stocks and markets as they move. Visit MarketWatch.com for more information on this news.

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From:: Stock Market News

The Big 3 stock market indexes all rallied to record highs Thursday, but the number of stocks hitting 52-week highs have dropped sharply, which could suggest that participation in the rally may be waning. There were 104 stocks on the NYSE that hit 52-weeks highs through morning trade, and 126 stocks hitting highs on the Nasdaq exchange. On Jan. 26, the last time the Dow Jones Industrial Average , the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq Composite all reached all-time intraday highs on the same day, 257 NYSE stocks and 192 Nasdaq stocks hit 52-week highs. On Dec. 8, 465 NYSE stocks and 514 Nasdaq stocks hit new highs, as the Dow, S&P 500 and Nasdaq all surged to fresh records.

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From:: Stock Market News

Coca-Cola Co.’s stock slumped 2.3% in morning trade, making it the biggest percentage decliner among Dow Jones Industrial Average components, after the beverage giant met fourth-quarter earnings expectations but provided a downbeat outlook for 2017. Revenue beat expectations, but reported revenue of $9.41 billion was the lowest quarterly total reported since the third quarter of 2009. Analyst Stephen Powers at UBS reiterated his buy rating on Coke, but expressed concern that growth seen during the quarter was “wholly pricing and mix driven,” as concentrate volumes fell. Wells Fargo analyst Bonnie Herzog said she remained “cautious” on Coke, with a rating of market perform, given the outlook for “minimal” profit growth through 2018. The stock has now lost 5.2% over the past 12 months, while the SPDR Consumer Staples Select Sector ETF has gained 7.4% and the Dow has rallied 25.8%.

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From:: Stock Market News

Standard & Poor’s on Thursday downgraded Neiman Marcus by three notches to CCC-plus from B-minus, moving it deep into junk territory, saying its poor operating performance in recent quarters has weakened its credit metrics. The outlook is negative, meaning the agency could downgrade again in the medium term. “Trends such as weak mall traffic, highly promotional retail apparel environment, and cautious consumer spending continue to weigh heavily on Neiman Marcus’ operating performance and EBITDA,” said credit analyst Helena Song. “We believe these meaningful industry headwinds, both secular and cyclical, will likely hinder meaningful EBITDA recovery, and as such we project adjusted leverage in the low 10x range and interest coverage in the high-1x area over the coming year.” The negative outlook offers a one-in-three chance it could downgrade again over the next year or so, it said. Fitch Ratings said in January that it expects the retail sector to replace oil and gas as the most distressed sector in 2017, forecasting the retail-only default rate will jump to as high as 9% in 2017 from its current 1% trailing 12-month level.

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Data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration showed that supplies of natural gas fell by 152 billion cubic feet for the week ended Feb. 3. That was in line with the decline of 151 billion expected by analyst polled by S&P Global Platts. Total stocks now stand at 2.559 trillion cubic feet, down 325 billion cubic feet from a year ago, but 45 billion cubic feet above the five-year average, the government said. The data included “reclassification” from working gas, which is available to the market, to base gas, which is not. That resulted in a decrease for working gas stocks of about 5 billion cubic feet in the Pacific region, the EIA said. March natural gas rose 1.4 cents, or 0.5%, from Wednesday’s settlement to $3.14 per million British thermal units. It traded at $3.169 before the data.

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United Parcel Service Inc. said it’s raising its quarterly dividend to 83 cents a share. The company’s last quarterly dividend paid on Nov. 30 was 78 cents a share. The new dividend is payable March 8 to shareholders of record as of Feb. 21. UPS shares were up 0.8% in early trade and have gained 10% in the last 12 months, while the S&P 500 has gained 24%.

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From:: Stock Market News