Tag: stock market

General Motors shares rose 3% Wednesday after the company reported its best U.S. December retail sales performance since 2007, with total U.S. sales up 10% from the previous year. GM said it sold 249,983 vehicles to individual or retail customers in the U.S. Sales were led by gains at Chevrolet, which saw retail sales grow 8% for the month. The company estimates that GM gained more U.S. retail market share, gaining 0.3 points to make up 17.6%. For 2016, GM’s U.S. retail shares were up close to 2%. In the Chevrolet brand, the Volt, Malibu, Impala, Equinox, Traverse and Colorado set new sales records for the month and several for the year. The Malibu had its best calendar year sales since 1980. Shares of GM have gained 9% in the past 12 months, compared to the S&P 500’s gain of 12.6%.

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Shares of Hilton Worldwide Holdings Inc. surged 4.8% in early trade Wednesday, as the stock started trading as a separate entity to the company’s time-share business for the first time. That business, now named Hilton Grand Vacations Inc., is trading under the symbol “HGV”, but was halted after rising nearly 10% in the first minutes of trading. The stock resumed trading up 3.6%. SunTrust Robinson Humphrey initiated coverage of Hilton Grand Vacations with a buy rating and reiterated a buy rating on Hilton Worldwide. That stock is up 9% in the last 12 months, while the S&P 500 has gained 12%.

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U.S. stocks opened higher on Wednesday as banking stocks led the Dow Jones Industrial Average closer to the 20,000 milestone. The Dow gained 25 points, or 0.1%, to 19,906. The S&P 500 climbed four points, or 0.2%, to 2,262. The Nasdaq Composite Index added 13 points, or 0.3%, to 5,447. Morgan Stanley , Bank of America Corp. saw strong gains, as did Amazon.com Inc. . Investors are awaiting minutes from the Federal Reserve’s December policy meeting, at which it decided to raise interest rates for the second time in a decade. Traders will be watching for clues about the central bank’s policy outlook.

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AT&T Inc. on Wednesday officially laid plans to explore 5G connectivity in 2017 and provide faster internet access speed to consumers in the future. AT&T’s 5G Evolution plan encompasses fixed and mobile solutions and initial lab trials have achieved speeds up to 14 gigabits-per-second over wireless connection, according to a news release. The company said lab tests have seen less than three milliseconds of latency, which impacts things like the time between pressing play and seeing a video start. “Data on our mobile network has increased about 250,000% since 2007, and the majority of that traffic is video. 5G’s promise of greater speed and overall network performance brings huge opportunities not only for video but in the Internet of Things, 4K video, augmented and virtual reality, smart home and cities, autonomous vehicles and much more,” said Chief Strategy Officer John Donovan in a statement. AT&T also said it’s marketing 1 gigabit connections on its fiber network starting today to four million locations across 46 metros nationwide. Shares of AT&T are up more than 25% in the last 12 months, while the S&P 500 Index is up 12%.

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Coach Inc. said Wednesday it has appointed Kevin Wills as chief financial officer, replacing Jane Nielsen, who left the luxury accessories maker last August. Wills comes to the company from advisory firm AlixPartners LLP, where he has been CFO since March 2014. Before that, Wills did stints at Saks Inc. , the owner of Saks Fifth Avenue, as well as energy producer Tennessee Valley Authority. Coach shares were not yet active in premarket trade, but have gained 5.6% in the past 12 months, while the S&P 500 has gained 12.2%.

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Mueller Industries Inc. said on Wednesday its board authorized a $3 special cash dividend on its common stock along with $5 in principal amount of the company’s 6% notes due 2027 for each share owned. The subordinated bonds will be callable, in whole or in part, at any time at the option of Mueller Industries, subject to declining call premiums during the first five years, according to a news release. Shares of Mueller Industries are up nearly 56% in the past 12 months, outperforming the S&P 500 Index , which is up 12%.

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Amazon.com Inc. said Wednesday its Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA) service delivered a record more than 2 billion items for sellers worldwide in 2016. Items shipped by FBA rose 50% in the holiday season, while deliveries to prime members numbered in the millions. The online retailer said active sellers using the FBA service increased more than 70% in 2016, and units shipped grew more than 80% outside the U.S. The number of sellers that reached $100,000 in sales rose by 30%. The company estimates that sellers have created more than 600,000 new jobs outside of Amazon. Amazon shares were slightly higher premarket, but have gained 18% in the last 12 months, while the S&P 500 has gained 12%.

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Agile Therapeutics Inc. shares plummeted in the extended session Tuesday even after the women’s health company reported positive results in a study of its Twirla contraceptive patch. Agile shares dropped 73% to $1.33 after hours. Using the Pearl index, which is the number of times the contraceptive fails over a calculated 100 years of use, Twirla scored a 4.80 for its target population, but 51.4% of study participants had to discontinue the study. The FDA will have to review how Agile calculated the Pearl index results, the company said. Agile plans to resubmit its marketing application to the FDA in the first half of 2017.

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Alcoa Corp. on Tuesday said it expects to book restructuring-related charges of $90 million in the fourth quarter from the closure of its alumina refinery and bauxite mines in Suriname. The metals company will also record $31 million in impairment charges for its stake in a gas field in Western Australia after determining that exploration activities do not support its carrying value. The combined impact of these charges will be 66 cents a share. Aloca’s stock was unchanged in the late session after closing up 2.7%.

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J.C. Penney Co. Inc. said Tuesday that it has sold its home office and the 45-acre Plano, Texas, campus it resides on for $353 million, before closing and transaction costs, to Dreien Opportunity Partners LLC. J.C. Penney said in a previous announcement that it would lease back about 65% of the space once ownership has transferred. Rental costs, according to Penney, will be offset by a reduction in maintenance expenses, property taxes and interest expenses after the retailer pays down debt using proceeds from the transaction. The property, about 20 miles northeast of Dallas, has served as J.C. Penney’s global headquarters since 1992. J.C. Penney shares closed up 0.2%, and are up 25.1% in the past year. The S&P 500 index is up 10.5% over the last 12 months.

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