Tag: stock market

The Turkish lira slumped against the dollar Tuesday after the country’s central bank left a benchmark rate at 8%. A hike that would have supported the battered lira had been widely expected. The dollar was buying 3.7890 lira, a gain of roughly 1% from late Monday. The central bank has disappointed economists before. At its December meeting, the bank left interest rates unchanged, while an increase had been anticipated.

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From:: Stock Market News

The pound was sent on a rollercoaster ride in Tuesday morning trade after the U.K.’s Supreme Court ruled that the government can’t trigger the Article 50 that starts the Brexit process without approval from parliament. The court also said Prime Minister Theresa May won’t have to ask the devolved governments — Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales — before kicking off the exit negotiations. Sterling initially rose to $1.2534 after the decision was announced, but quickly turned lower to trade at $1.2475. The pound exchanged hands at $1.2536 late Monday in New York. “We have seen the initial move for sterling mainly towards the upside, but as the dust settled, we have seen the sterling giving up all those gains,” said Naeem Aslam, chief market analyst at ThinkForex, in a note. “This is mainly because the market believes that Brexit will move forward now. Moreover GBP was pricing in regionalized government being consulted and the Supreme Court has said that they do not need to be involved in,” he added.

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Silicon Motion Technology Corp. shares fell in the extended session Monday after the flash memory component maker forecast revenue below Wall Street views. Silicon Motion shares declined 7.5% to $40.10 after hours. The company forecast revenue of $121 million to $128 million for the first quarter. Analysts surveyed by FactSet had estimated $135.2 million for the first quarter. For the fourth quarter, the company reported adjusted earnings of 95 cents a share on revenue of $144.2 million. Analysts had expected 90 cents a share on revenue of $141.9 million.

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Hewlett Packard Enterprise Co. has agreed to acquire Cloud Cruiser, the second startup HPE has agreed to purchase in less than a week. Cloud Cruiser — which was founded in 2010 and had raised roughly $20 million in venture financing, according to Crunchbase — helps companies track and control the use of public and private cloud computing. Last week, HPE announced the $650 million acquisition of SimpliVity, which focuses on hyperconverged infrastructure and rivals Nutanix Inc. The dual acquisitions show HPE’s focus on hybrid IT models that leverage on-premises and cloud computing power. “Cloud Cruiser’s consumption analytics offerings enable enterprises such as Accenture, KPN, and TD Bank to measure, analyze, optimize and control their usage and spend in private, public and hybrid cloud environments,” HPE executive Scott Weller wrote in a blog post announcing the acquisition. HPE did not disclose the price it paid for Cloud Cruiser nor provide a target date for closing the deal, though it said Cloud Cruiser co-founder and CEO David Zabrowski, a former HP executive, will remain with the company and report to Weller.

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Shares of Mercury Systems Inc. jumped 7% late Monday after the aerospace and defense company beat revenue and earnings expectations for the fiscal second quarter. Mercury said it earned $5.2 million, or 13 cents a share, in the quarter, up from $5 million, or 15 cents a share, in the same quarter last year. Sales reached $98 million, compared with $60 million in the same quarter a year ago. Analysts polled by FactSet had expected Mercury to report earnings of 10 cents a share on sales of $93.2 million. The stock had ended the regular trading day up 1%, which compares with gains of 0.3% for the S&P 500 index.

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Shares of Yahoo Inc. rose nearly 2% late Monday after the internet company reported fourth-quarter adjusted earnings and sales above expectations. Yahoo also said the sale of its core business to Verizon is now expected to close in the second quarter instead of in the first quarter “given work required to meet closing conditions,” it said in a statement. Yahoo said it earned $162 million in the quarter, or 17 cents a share, versus a loss of $4.43 billion, or $4.70 a share, in the year-ago quarter. Adjusted for one-time items, Yahoo earned 25 cents a share in the quarter, up from 13 cents a share a year ago. Revenue reached $1.47 billion, up from $1.27 billion a year ago. Analysts polled by FactSet had expected the company to report adjusted earnings of 21 cents a share on sales of $907 million in the quarter. Shares ended the regular trading day up 0.8%, which compares with a loss of 0.3% for the S&P 500 index.

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U.S. stocks retreated on Monday as uncertainty mounted over how President Donald Trump plans to implement his pro-growth policies. The S&P 500 fell 5 points, or 0.3%, to close at 2,265 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average shed 26 points, or 0.1%, to end at 19,800. The Nasdaq Composite Index edged down 2 points to close at 5,552. “We expect tax issues to be at the forefront of Washington’s agenda, but President Trump’s comments last week show that he and Congress may not be on the same page,” Bob Doll, chief equity strategist at Nuveen Asset Management LLC, said in a note. As a result, investors may find themselves disappointed by the pace and the outcome of tax reforms, he said.

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Shares of Qualcomm Inc. plunged 11% in very active trade Monday, putting on track to suffer the 2nd-biggest decline in the last seven years, in the wake of Apple Inc.’s lawsuit alleging the leveraging of its monopolistic position. Volume spiked to about 69 million shares, or nearly 9-times the full-day average, to make the stock the most actively traded on major U.S. exchanges. The percentage decline was the biggest since it plummeted 15% on Nov. 5, 2015, and the 14% tumble on Jan. 28, 2010. Analyst Romit Shah at Instinet downgraded the mobile chip maker to neutral from buy and cut his stock price target to $70 from $80, saying recent rulings and lawsuits have been stronger and broader than expected. Shah fears that these investigations into Qualcomm’s licensing practices could delay regulatory approval of the NXP Semiconductors N.V. acquisition, which Shah expects to be a boon for Qualcomm. The shares have gained 16% over the past 12 months, while the SPDR Technology Select Sector ETF has run up 23% and the S&P 500 has climbed 19%. Apple’s stock has advanced 18% over the past year.

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President Donald Trump signed an executive order Monday stopping U.S. involvement with the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a 12-nation trade deal that was a priority of former President Barack Obama. The U.S. was not a member since Congress never ratified it. But Trump pledged during the campaign that the U.S. would not participate in the pact.

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Aetna Inc. shares dropped 2.4% and Humana Inc. shares dropped 2.0% in heavy volume during midday trade Monday after The Wall Street Journal and Reuters reported that a federal judge had blocked their merger on antitrust grounds. The federal judge’s Monday decision said the DOJ had successfully argued that the deal could hurt consumers with Medicare Advantage plans, according to the WSJ. The ruling deals a “potentially fatal legal blow” to the deal, the WSJ said. After the Department of Justice sued to block the $34 billion merger last summer, the two health insurers said they would “vigorously” defend the deal and that “the facts do not support the basis for DOJ action.” The New York Post reported last week that a federal judge is expected to block another merger between two other large health insurers, Anthem Inc. and Cigna Corp. , and a decision is expected shortly. Aetna shares have risen 8.3% over the last three months, and Humana shares have risen 12.6%, compared with a 5.5% rise in the S&P 500 .

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