Tag: stock market

Shares of Merrimack Pharmaceuticals Inc. plummeted 30% toward a three-year low in premarket trade Wednesday, after the company said it was halting a Phase 2 trial of its breast cancer treatment after a data and safety monitoring board (DSMB) recommendation and the subsequent futility analysis. The DSMB said it was unlikely for Merrimack’s MM-302 to demonstrate benefit over comparable treatments, with both the treatment and control arms found to have shorter-than-expected median progression free survival. The company said there were no new or unexpected safety concerns. Merrimack said it expects to provide further details about MM-302 and its pipeline review in January. The stock has tumbled 32% year to date through Tuesday, while the S&P 500 has gained 11%.

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Shares of Finish Line Inc. plunged 14% in premarket trade Wednesday, after the athletic shoe retailer reported fiscal third-quarter results that missed expectations and provided a downbeat outlook. The loss for the quarter to Nov. 26 widened to $40.4 million, or $1.00 a share, from $21.8 million, or 49 cents a share, in the same period a year ago. Excluding non-recurring items, such as severance related charges, the adjusted loss per share was 24 cents, compared with the FactSet consensus for a per-share loss of 18 cents. Revenue rose to $371.7 million from $361.0 million, but missed the FactSet consensus of $411.3 million, as same-store sales growth of 0.7% fell well short of expectations of an 8.3% increase. For the fourth quarter, the company expects adjusted EPS of 68 cents to 73 cents, below the FactSet consensus of 95 cents, and a same-store sales decline of 2% to 3% versus expectations of 2.8% growth. “Steep declines in apparel and accessories offset a high-single digit footwear comp gain and a 33% sales increase in our Macy’s business,” said Chief Executive Sam Sato. The stock has soared 27% year to date through Tuesday, while the SPDR S&P Retail ETF gained 8.1% and the S&P 500 climbed 11%.

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Accenture PLC’s stock fell 0.9% in premarket trade Wednesday, after the consulting company missed fiscal first-quarter revenue expectations and provided a downbeat full-year outlook. Earnings for the quarter to Nov. 30 rose to $1.05 billion, or $1.58 a share, from $858.5 million, or $1.28 a share, in the same period a year ago. The FactSet consensus for earnings per share was $1.49. Net revenue, which excludes reimbursements, rose to $8.52 billion from $8.01 billion, while total revenue grew to $9.01 billion from $8.47 billion. That missed the FactSet consensus for net revenue of $8.59 billion and for total revenue of $9.07 billion. Looking ahead, the company expects net revenue of $8.15 billion to $8.40 billion for the current quarter, below expectations of $8.50 billion, and cut its fiscal 2017 EPS outlook to $5.64 to $5.87 from $5.75 to $5.98 to reflect new foreign-exchange assumptions. The stock has run up 19% year to date through Tuesday, while the S&P 500 has gained 11%.

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Italy’s lower house of parliament on Wednesday approved a government request for a loan of up to €20 billion to rescue the country’s struggling lenders, including Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena SpA , according to Reuters. The decision comes as BMPS, the world’s oldest lender, is scrambling to push through a recapitalization plan to keep it afloat. The bank has estimated it will run out of liquidity in four months, rather than the 11 months earlier estimated, Reuters reported, citing bank documents. That sent the shares down as much as 19% to a record low. The stock trimmed its losses to 4.9% after news that the lower house had approved the bailout request. The €20 billion rescue fund will be used to prop up other Italian banks as well, according to Reuters.

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Shares of Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena SpA dropped 17% Wednesday following a report the embattled Italian lender’s liquidity could be wiped out sooner than anticipated. The bank now expects to run out of liquidity in four months, compared with a previous estimate of 11 months, Reuters reported, citing BMPS documents. The bank’s current net liquidity position is 10.6 billion euros ($11.02 billion).

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GoPro Inc. said its board approved an additional $7 million in restructuring costs to pay for layoffs, according to a Securities and Exchange Commission filing late Tuesday. GoPro shares declined 0.6% to $8.85 after hours. The company said the additional funds are on top of the estimated $24 million to $33 million previously disclosed. Back in late November, the action-camera company said it was shedding 15% of its workforce. GoPro expects to account for most of the restructuring costs in the fourth quarter.

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A U.S. District Court judge in Illinois ordered Igor B. Oystacher and his proprietary trading company, 3Red Trading LLC, both of Chicago, Illinois, to pay a $2.5 million civil penalty for a manipulative and deceptive spoofing scheme he employed while trading at least five different futures contracts on four exchanges for more than two years. The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission charged Oystacher and 3Red with spoofing-entering and canceling orders he never intended to fill-while trading E-Mini S&P 500, copper, crude oil, natural gas, and VIX futures contracts on at least 51 trading days between December 2011 and January 2014. According to the judge’s order this strategy allowed Oystacher and 3Red to buy or sell futures contracts in quantities and/or at price levels that would not have otherwise been available to them in the market, absent the spoofing activity. The judge’s order also requires that an independent monitor assess and monitor all 3Red’s and Oystacher’s futures trading for three years.

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Adam Messinger, Twitter’s chief technology officer, announced on Twitter Tuesday that he is leaving the company. “After 5 years I’ve decided to leave Twitter and take some time off,” Messinger wrote. Twitter said Tuesday that it plans to “streamline and flatten the organization” by having its engineering, product and design function areas reporting directly to Jack Dorsey, the company’s chief executive. These changes come as the company said it is speeding up the implementation of product improvements. Another executive, John McFarland, who joined Twitter when it acquired his startup TellApart, is also leaving the company, according to Recode. Shares of Twitter were down 0.5% after hours.

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The American Petroleum Institute reported late Tuesday a larger than expected drawdown of U.S. crude oil supplies for the week ended Dec. 16. API said U.S. crude supplies declined by just under 4.2 million barrels, according to sources. Analysts and traders forecast a stockpile decline of 2.4 million barrels, on average. Supply data from the Energy Information Administration will be released Wednesday morning. February crude , the most active contract, rose to $53.59 a barrel in electronic trading, up from the contract’s settlement of $52.30 on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

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Facebook is going into radio with the addition of a Live Audio function. The company said Tuesday that the new feature, as part of Facebook Live, would allow publishers to broadcast live recordings. Facebook partnered with the BBC World Service, LBC, Harper Collins and two authors, Adam Grant and Britt Bennett, to test out the feature. It plans to roll it out more broadly in early 2017. Shares of Facebook were down less than 1% after hours Tuesday.

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