Tag: stock market

The Securities and Exchange Commission said on Wednesday it would fine Orthofix International , a Texas-based medical device company, $14 million to settle charges that it improperly booked revenue in certain instances and made improper payments to doctors at government-owned hospitals in Brazil in order to increase sales. Orthofix violated the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, or FCPA, when its Brazilian subsidiary used high discounts and fake invoices to make improper payments through third-parties to induce government doctors to use Orthofix’s products. The accounting failures caused the company to materially misstate certain financial statements from at least 2011 to the first quarter of 2013. The company agreed to admit its wrongdoing and pay an $8.25 million penalty to resolve the accounting violations and more than $6 million to settle the FCPA charges. Four former Orthofix executives, including its CFO, also agreed to settle cases related to the accounting failures without admitting or denying the findings. Orthofix’s then-CEO Robert Vaters, who was not charged with wrongdoing, reimbursed the company $72,886 for cash bonuses and certain stock awards he received in error based on the restated accounting, making it unnecessary for the SEC to pursue a Sarbanes-Oxley Section 304(a) clawback action against him. Orthofix shares were flat Wednesday, but are down 8% in the last 12 months, while the S&P 500 has gained about 20%.

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The Securities and Exchange Commission fined General Motors $1 million to settle charges that the company did not properly assess the potential impact on its financial statements of a defective ignition switch because of deficient internal accounting controls. The company’s own internal investigation involving the defective ignition switch wasn’t brought to the attention of its accountants until November 2013 even though other General Motors personnel knew in the spring of 2012 about the safety issue, according to the SEC. For at least an 18-month period, accountants at General Motors did not properly evaluate or account for the potential losses associated with a recall of cars with the defective ignition switch. General Motors neither admitted nor denied the charges. GM shares were flat Wednesday, but have gained 23% in the last 12 months, while the S&P 500 has gained about 21%.

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Whole Foods Market Inc. announced Wednesday that it will celebrate at least one food holiday each month in 2017. The effort kicks of on Jan. 20 with National Cheese Lovers Day, when guests will be able to sample a variety of cheeses at all stores, and continues with National Green Juice Day on Jan. 26. The green juice holiday will be accompanied by $2-off digital coupon on any large store-made smoothie or juice from Jan. 25 to Jan. 31. Future food holidays will be announced a week in advance. Whole Foods shares are up 0.2% so far in Wednesday trading, and up 4% for the past year. The S&P 500 index is up 20.7% for the last 12 months.

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State Street Corporation , the Boston-based global financial services company, will pay a $32.3 million criminal penalty and an additional equal amount to the SEC to resolve the government’s investigation into a scheme to defraud at least six of the bank’s clients through secret commissions, according to the Department of Justice. The commissions were applied to billions of dollars of fixed income and equity trades for at least six institutional clients and charged in addition to fees the clients had agreed to pay and despite written instructions to the traders not to charge those clients trading commissions. State Street also took steps to hide the commissions from clients and misrepresented its performance to one of these clients in order to conceal a trading loss. The company admitted the allegations and agreed to a deferred prosecution agreement that requires it to employ an independent corporate compliance monitor for three years. State Street has already fully repaid the victims of the scheme. The government had previously charged two former high-ranking State Street executives, former Executive Vice President Ross McLellan and former Senior Managing Director Edward Pennings, with conspiracy, securities fraud and wire fraud in connection with the same scheme. They are scheduled to go to trial in October.

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Britain’s Supreme Court will issue its decision Jan. 24 on whether the U.K. Prime Minister Theresa May must consult the country’s parliament on her plans for Brexit. Its judges have been weighing arguments in the U.K. government’s appeal against a High Court ruling that it doesn’t have the right to unilaterally invoke Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty, which would begin formal talks for the U.K. to withdraw from the European Union. On Tuesday, May laid out her plan for Brexit, which she said would be put to the vote in both Houses of Parliament. The Supreme Court will hand down its decision on Tuesday at 9:30 a.m. London time, or 4:30 a.m. Eastern Time, according to a post on the court’s official Twitter account.

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U.S. stocks opened little changed Wednesday after mixed earnings reports from banks. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. earnings were better than expected, however, Citibank revenues disappointed. Investors are also waiting for a speech by Federal Reserve Chairwoman Janet Yellen in the afternoon. The S&P 500 were off 2 points, or 0.1%, at 2,265, shortly after open. The Nasdaq Composite was flat at 5,537. The Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 54 points or 0.3%, to 19,770.

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General Electric Co. said Wednesday it has won over $1.4 billion in power generation orders from Iraq’s Ministry of Electricity. The orders are for setting up power plants and to provide technology upgrades and maintenance services. “Using GE’s expanded portfolio of technologies and solutions, this project will provide more reliable and sustainable electricity for the country to help achieve better operations and higher levels of efficiency,” said Steve Bolze, chief executive of GE Power. GE’s stock, which was up 0.1% in premarket trade, has rallied 7.9% over the past three months, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average has run up 9.2%.

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Shares of J.C. Penney Co. Inc. slumped 1.3% in active premarket trade Wednesday, after Credit Suisse turned bearish on the department store chain, citing expectations of limited sales growth amid store closures and stagnant apparel and accessories merchandising. Analyst Christian Buss cut his rating to underperform from neutral. He also downgraded fellow discount department store chain Kohl’s Corp. to underperform from neutral on concerns over deteriorating store margins, sending the stock down 1.8% in premarket trade. Separately, Nordstrom Inc.’s stock surged 1.6% premarket, after Buss upgraded the high-end department store chain to outperform from neutral, citing expectations of relatively strong earnings growth as a result of investments in speed of execution and ecommerce. He raised his stock price target to $58, which is 31% above Tuesday’s closing price of $44.38, from $48. J.C. Penney’s stock had tumbled 18% over the past three months through Tuesday, while Kohl’s shares have slipped 3.9% and Nordstrom’s stock has dropped 17% and the S&P 500 has gained 6%. The SPDR S&P Retail ETF has tacked on 3.8% over the past three months.

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Citigroup Inc. said Wednesday it had net income of $3.57 billion, or $1.14 a share, in the fourth quarter, up from $3.34 billion, or $1.02 a share, in the year-earlier period. Revenue fell to $17.0 billion from $18.5 billion a year ago. The FactSet consensus was for EPS of $1.12 and revenue of $17.3 billion. Shares were slightly higher premarket, but have gained 37% in the last 12 months, while the S&P 500 has gained 20.6%.

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Shares of SoftBank Group Corp. , the Japanese software service provider responsible for Pepper the robot, were upgraded to buy from hold at Deutsche Bank on Wednesday. Analyst Peter Milliken said the upgrade reflected the company’s new $100 billion Vision Fund, an international tech fund the telecom giant established with a Saudi Arabia sovereign wealth fund last October that includes a $1 billion contribution from Apple Inc. . Should the fund receive fees of 1% of committed capital, it’d immediately become “a significant profit contributor” to SoftBank, he said. Once all $100 billion is committed, the fund would have the potential to lift earnings by an estimated 9%, according to the Deutsche Bank analysis. The brokerage raised its price target on the stock to 9,200 yen from 7,000. Shares of SoftBank traded up 0.8% to 8242 yen on Wednesday. They’ve risen 24% in the past three months and 61% in the past year.

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