Tag: stock market

Galena Biopharma Inc. shares surged 20.8% in pre-market trade Monday after the company said an independent group of experts decided its breast cancer combination treatment in two mid-stage trials had no safety concerns and found neither to be futile. Galena is testing its NeuVax with chemotherapy drug trastuzumab in two clinical trials, one phase 2b and the other phase 2, to prevent recurrence of breast cancer. The Data Safety Monitoring Board’s findings mean the trials can proceed, Galena’s Executive Vice President Bijan Nejadnik said. The company ended a late-stage clinical trial of the same drug, Neuvax, last year on a different independent committee’s recommendation and the committee’s futility concerns. An interim efficacy analysis for the phase 2b trial of NeuVax and trastuzumab is expected near the end of this year, Galena said. Galena shares were priced at $1.20 as of Friday’s close. Galena shares have dropped 68.4% over the last three months, compared with a 10.2% rise in the S&P 500 .

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.

…read more

From:: Stock Market News

Shares of Hasbro Inc. surged 4.1% in premarket trade Monday, after the toy maker reported profit and sales that rose above expectations. Earnings for the quarter to Dec. 25 rose to $192.7 million, or $1.52 a share, from $175.8 million, or $1.39 a share, in the same period a year ago. Excluding non-recurring items, adjusted earnings per share came to $1.64, beating the FactSet consensus of $1.27. Revenue grew to $1.63 billion from $1.47 billion, above the FactSet consensus of $1.50 billion. Boys category revenue fell 3% to $552.3 million, but was above the FactSet consensus of $534.9 million, while girls category revenue jumped 52% to $394.2 million, beating the FactSet consensus of $343.8 million. The stock has run up 12% over the past 12 months through Friday, while the S&P 500 has climbed 22%.

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.

…read more

From:: Stock Market News

The New England Patriots won Super Bowl LI in spectacular fashion Sunday, coming back from a 25-point deficit to defeat the Atlanta Falcons, 34-28, in overtime. On the first drive of the extra period, quarterback Tom Brady led the Patriots on a 73-yard drive, capped off by a two-yard touchdown run by James White. Brady finished the game with 466 yards passing and two touchdowns, en route to winning his fifth Super Bowl title. Atlanta had led 28-3 early in the third quarter, before the Patriots went on a 31-0 run. It was the first overtime game in Super Bowl history.

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.

…read more

From:: Stock Market News

U.S. stocks closed higher on Friday, with the Dow returning above the 20,000 level in a broad rally that lifted major indexes into positive territory for the week. The move higher followed a stronger-than-expected jobs report and news that President Donald Trump had taken steps to roll back financial industry regulations, including the Dodd-Frank Act. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. was the biggest gainer among Dow components, jumping 4.6%, while J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. rallied 3.1%. The overall financial sector surged 2% as the top-performing sector of the day. The Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 185.45 points, or 0.9%, to 20,070.43. The S&P 500 rose 16.43 points to 2,297.28, a rise of 0.7%. The Nasdaq Composite Index ended 30.57 points higher at 5,666.77, a gain of 0.5%. For the week, the Dow dipped 0.1% while both the S&P and the Nasdaq rose 0.1%.

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.

…read more

From:: Stock Market News

The Federal Reserve shouldn’t be “too timid” or “delay too long” to raise interest rates, said San Francisco Fed President John Williams on Friday. In an interview on Bloomberg TV, Williams challenged the Wall Street view that a rate hike in March is now off the table given the January jobs report. “I don’t agree. All our meetings are live,” he said. He also disagreed the Fed needed to wait to see details of Trump’s fiscal policy legislation before raising rates. “This economy is proving it can grow at a steady rate without as much monetary stimulus as we’ve been giving,” he said. “We actually can make decisions based on that without knowing what happens in terms of fiscal policy later in the year.” Williams is not a voting member of the Fed policy-committee this year. The market is pricing in a 9% chance of an interest-rate hike in March compared with an already low 18% probability on Thursday, according to CME Group.

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.

…read more

From:: Stock Market News

Shares of Myos Rens Technology Inc. more than doubled on heavy volume Friday on no apparent news, for the second time in less than a month. The stock rocketed 112% in afternoon trade, enough to make it the biggest gainer on the Nasdaq exchange. Volume spiked to 19.3 million shares, which was about 21 times the full-day average. The company did not release any news Friday, a company spokesperson told MarketWatch. Myos Rens is a biotherapeutics and bionutrition company, which says on its website that its Fortetropin product is a “clinically proven natural” way to build lean muscle. On Jan. 11, the stock soared more than five fold–from $1.30 to $6.82–on volume of 16.4 million shares, also as the company did not release any news. The stock has now run up nearly four-fold over the past 12 months, while the iShares Nasdaq Biotechnology ETF has tacked on 7% and the S&P 500 has gained 20%.

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.

…read more

From:: Stock Market News

Oil futures settled modestly higher Friday and logged a weekly gain on the back of expectations that output cuts by major producers will continue to chip away at global oversupply. On the New York Mercantile Exchange, March West Texas Intermediate tacked on 29 cents, or 0.5%, to $53.83 a barrel. WTI notched a weekly gain of about 0.7%. The gain for oil came as the Baker Hughes report revealed that the number of active U.S. rigs drilling for oil rose by 17 to 583 rigs this week, a third straight weekly gain. Investors were also weighing news of fresh U.S. sanctions on oil-producer Iran. But those sanctions aren’t expected to put limits on its crude exports.

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.

…read more

From:: Stock Market News

Gold prices closed with slight gains Friday, adding to a weekly rise that is the best in about eight months. April gold settled up $1.40, or 0.1%, at $1,220.80 an ounce. The metal rang up a weekly gain of about 2.6% which would represent its best weekly advance since the week ended June 10, according to FactSet data. Gold had a bumpy ride on a the day but edged higher as the dollar lost ground in the wake of a the Friday jobs report. The U.S. created 227,000 new jobs in January to mark the largest gain in four months and the unemployment rate rose to 4.8% as more workers looked for jobs, but the big weak spot was wage growth. Average wages edged up 0.1% to $26 an hour. Hourly pay increased 2.5% from January 2015 to January 2016, down from 2.8% in the prior month, suggesting that inflation may not be as brisk as the Federal Reserve or the market had been pricing in.Lower inflation might give the Fed pause in raising rates and is a drag on the dollar , which can give dollar-priced assets like gold room to rise.

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.

…read more

From:: Stock Market News

WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) — President Donald Trump on Friday signed executive orders that would start a process of rolling back the fiduciary rule and the Dodd-Frank bank reform law. “Today we are signing core principles for regulating the United States financial system,” Trump said. The text of the orders has not yet been released.

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.

…read more

From:: Stock Market News

Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) sent a Friday letter to Kaleo Inc. criticizing the around $4,500 price tags of its two products, opioid overdose treatment Evzio and allergic reaction treatment Auvi-Q. Kaleo prices these products at high levels, it says, to allow patients with commercial insurance to pay no out-of-pocket costs. But Klobuchar challenged that explanation. “These programs may simply shift costs to other parts of the healthcare system, which are eventually passed on to consumers through higher premiums,” she said. “Many worry this pricing strategy may allow pharmaceutical companies to benefit from increased profits while hiding the true costs to consumers.” Big price increases on Evzio, from $690 to over $4,500 over the last three years, are “worrisome,” she said. She called the $4,500 price tag for an Auvi-Q two-pack “especially disturbing.” The senator asked Kaleo to explain its Evzio price increases and Auvi-Q’s pricing structure in her letter. Auvi-Q, a competitor with Mylan Inc.’s EpiPen, is not yet on the market and expected to be available starting Feb. 14.

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.

…read more

From:: Stock Market News