Tag: stock market

Shares of La Quinta Holdings Inc. rose nearly 4% late Wednesday after the hotel chain said it is pursuing to split its business in two stand-alone, publicly traded companies. The deal could involve “spinning off our owned real estate assets as a separate company,” La Quinta said in a statement. There is “no assurance” the split will happen, the Irving, Texas, company said. J.P. Morgan is acting as financial advisor. Shares of La Quinta had ended the day up 1.4%, compared with gains of 0.2% for the S&P 500 index.

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Shares of Rent-A-Center Inc. fell more than 16% late Wednesday after the rent-to-own retailer said it expects lower fourth-quarter sales and per-share losses. Quarterly sales are expected to be down about 14%, the Plano, Texas, company said in a statement. Per-share losses are seen between 20 cents a share and 30 cents a share in the quarter, it said. Rent-A-Center has not completed its financial statement reporting process, it said. “The fourth quarter proved to be more challenging than expected,” interim CEO Mark E. Speese said. Its portfolio increased sequentially, as it typically does during the quarter, but the company was heavily promotional, impacting the period, he said. Rent-A-Center is expected to report full quarterly results Feb. 13. Shares of Rent-A-Center ended the regular trading day up 1.4%, in contrast with gains of 0.2% for the S&P 500 index.

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U.S. stocks rose moderately on Wednesday as gains in financials offset weakness in telecommunications shares but the Dow Jones Industrial Average bucked the trend to close at its lowest of 2017. The S&P 500 gained 4 points, or 0.2%, to close at 2,271. The Dow Jones Industrial Average shed 22 points, or 0.1%, to end at 19,804 while the Nasdaq Composite Index rose 16 points, or 0.3%, to close at 5,555. Major indexes traded within a tight range as sentiment remained subdued ahead of President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration on Friday.

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Mallinckrodt PLC said Wednesday afternoon that it had settled with the Federal Trade Commission over allegations that it used its monopoly to hike drug prices. The settlement is still subject to approval by the FTC, the company said. Earlier Wednesday, shares fell after the Washington Post reported that the FTC was about to bring charges. Shares were down as much as 8% before a trading halt. Company shares have dropped 29.4% over the last three months, compared with a 6.1% rise in the S&P 500 .

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WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) — In a speech to the Commonwealth Club in San Francisco, Federal Reserve Chairwoman Janet Yellen said she expects interest rates to rise a few times per year until the end of 2019. “As of last month, I and most of my colleagues–the other members of the Fed Board in Washington and the presidents of the 12 regional Federal Reserve Banks–were expecting to increase our federal funds rate target a few times a year until, by the end of 2019, it is close to our estimate of its longer-run neutral rate of 3 percent,” she said. “Right now our foot is still pressing on the gas pedal, though, as I noted, we have eased back a bit.” Yellen also pointed out slow productivity growth is likely to prevent the Fed from a more aggressive pace of hiking. Yellen is due to take questions, and is due to deliver a different speech more specifically on the economic outlook on Thursday night.

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Oil futures fell by nearly 3% Wednesday as concerns over climbing U.S. shale output pushed prices to their lowest in about a week. Those concerns outweighed some earlier support from growing signs that major crude producers have kept output in check as promised. February West Texas Intermediate crude fell $1.40, or 2.7%, to settle at $51.08 a barrel–the lowest finish since Jan. 10, according to FactSet data.

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Oracle Corp. was sued by the U.S. Labor Department on Wednesday for pay discrimination. Oracle “has a systemic practice of paying Caucasian male workers more than their counterparts in the same job title,” particularly females, black and Asian employees, the government said. In a statement, Oracle said the complaint is meritless, “politically motivated” and based on “false allegations.” A number of technology companies have faced criticism for their hiring practices in recent years, which has prompted many in the technology industry to reshape their diversity efforts, which has included hiring more women and minorities. Shares of Oracle traded flat around $39.10 on Wednesday. They’ve risen nearly 2% in the past three months and 15% in the past year. The S&P 500 , meanwhile, has risen 6% in the past three months and 21% in the past year.

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Gold futures saw a modest loss on Wednesday as strength in the U.S. dollar dulled investment demand for the metal. Prices however, remained close to a two-month high, supported by recent comments from President-elect Donald Trump, which suggested that he favors a weaker greenback to benefit U.S. trade. February gold lost 80 cents, or less than 0.1%, to settle at $1,212.10 an ounce after ending Tuesday at its highest since mid-November. The Federal Reserve’s Beige Book, released after prices settled Wednesday, showed that “price pressures intensified somewhat” in the last few weeks of 2016. In electronic trading, gold futures traded at $1,208.40.

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The Securities and Exchange Commission fined MDC Partners , a New York-based marketing company, $1.5 million to settle charges it failed to disclose certain perks granted to its then-CEO, Miles S. Nadal, and for violating disclosure rules for non-GAAP financial metrics. MDC Partners failed to disclose additional personal benefits the company paid on behalf of Nadal such as private aircraft usage, club memberships, cosmetic surgery, yacht and sports car expenses, jewelry, charitable donations, pet care, and personal travel expenses, according to the SEC. The CEO later resigned and returned $11.285 million worth of perks, personal expense reimbursements, and other items of value improperly received from 2009 to 2014. The company also improperly used a non-GAAP measure called ”organic revenue growth” that excluded the effects of two other items, acquisitions and foreign exchange impacts. MDC Partners then revised its calculation to exclude another item, which resulted in higher ”organic revenue growth” results, without informing investors of the change. MDC Partners also failed to give GAAP metrics equal or greater prominence to non-GAAP metrics in its earnings releases. MDC Partners neither admitted nor denied the allegations.

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In another in a string of mortgage-related settlements with big banks, the Justice Department announced a $5.28 billion settlement with Credit Suisse over its packaging, securitization, issuance, marketing and sale of residential mortgage-backed securities between 2005 and 2007. Credit Suisse will have to pay a $2.48 billion fine and provide $2.8 billion in other relief, including relief to underwater homeowners, distressed borrowers and affected communities, in the form of loan forgiveness and financing for affordable housing.

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