34 Key Stories That You Should Read To Know How Financial Markets Are Doing Today

1. U.S. Stock Market:

“U.S. stocks retreated on Friday even as the Nasdaq touched a fresh intraday record as investors took a cautious stance ahead of the weekend marking President Donald Trump’s 100th day in office. The S&P 500 index SPX, -0.15%  was off by 5 points, or 0.2%, to 2,383 with eight of the 11 main sectors trading lower. Energy, tech and health-care stocks were in the green, but the rest of the sectors were in negative territory. The Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA, -0.14%  dropped 43 points, or 0.2%, to 20,937. The Nasdaq Composite Index COMP, +0.01% edged down 3 points to 6,045 after briefly touching an intraday high at 6,074.04.”

(Market Watch)

“U.S. equities traded lower on Friday as investors digested economic data and key corporate earnings, but looked to close April with strong monthly gains. The Dow Jones industrial average slipped about 45 points, with Intel and American Express contributing the most losses. The S&P 500 fell 0.2 percent, with real estate and telecommunications leading decliners. The Nasdaq composite hit a fresh record high before trading slightly lower.”

(CNBC)

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2. U.S. Bond Market:

“U.S. government debt prices fell on Friday as investors digested key economic data. The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note rose 4 basis points to 2.331 percent, while the yield on the 30-year Treasury bond was higher at 2.995 percent. Yields move inversely to prices. “

(CNBC)

“The U.S. Treasuries lost ahead of Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) member Lael Brainard’s speech, scheduled to be held later in the day. The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury rose 1 basis point to 2.31 pct, the super-long 30-year bond yields jumped 1-1/2 basis points to 2.98 pct while the yield on short-term 2-year note also traded close to 1 basis point higher at 1.26 pct.”

(EconoTimes)

“The US Treasury market is under pressure following the advanced release of first quarter GDP. The US economy grew at an annualized rate of 0.7%, missing economist expectations of 1% growth. A deeper look into the numbers shows the employment cost index rose 0.8%, its fastest pace since the first quarter of 2008, and core PCE climbed at a 2.0% clip. Here’s a look at the scoreboard as of 8:46 a.m. ET. 2-year +2 bps @ 1.278%. 3-year +2.7 bps @ 1.465%. 5-year +3bps @ 1.852%. 7-year +3bps @ 2.135%. 10-year +3bps @ 2.324%. 30-year +2.5bps @ 2.990%. Selling has yields across the curve up between 2 and 3 basis points, and approaching their highest levels in three weeks.”

(Business Insider)

3. FX Markets:

“The dollar advanced against the yen on Friday while paring an earlier decline against the euro after preliminary data showed a modest expansion in U.S. economic growth during the first quarter. The dollar USDJPY, +0.30% climbed 0.3% to 111.55 yen in recent trade, while the euro EURUSD, +0.3495% pared an earlier drop, buying $1.0926 in recent trade. The greenback traded at 111.26 yen and $1.0874 late Thursday in New York. The U.S. GDP expanded by 0.7% in the first quarter, just slightly below a consensus forecast of 0.8% from a survey of economists conducted by MarketWatch.”

(MarketWatch)

“As for the rest of the world, here’s the scoreboard as of 8:01 a.m. ET: The euro is up by 0.6% at 1.0934 against the dollar after eurozone CPI came in at 1.9% year-over-year in April, above expectations of 1.8%, and above the prior reading of 1.5%. The British pound is up by 0.3% at 1.2940 against the dollar after data released by the Office for National Statistics suggests the Brexit slowdown has arrived. The UK’s economy grew by 0.3% in the first quarter, the slowest growth since the first quarter of 2016. The drop off was largely driven by the services sector, the economy’s largest driver of growth. The US dollar index is down by 0.3% at 98.78 ahead of a bunch of data. The Employment Cost Index, GDP, and core PCE will all be released at 8:30 a.m. ET before Chicago PMI and University of Michigan consumer confidence cross the wires at 9:45 a.m. ET and 10 a.m. ET. The Japanese yen is down by 0.2% at 111.44 per dollar.”

(Markets Insider)

4. Commodities:

“Oil prices struggled to rebound Friday on the heels of a fresh slide to one-month settlement lows, with investors keeping a close eye on U.S. rig-count data due later. Light, sweet crude on the New York Mercantile Exchange CLM7, +0.96% rose 27 cents, or 0.5%, to $49.23 a barrel in the Globex electronic session after falling 1.3% a day earlier. West Texas Intermediate crude had finished at its lowest level in roughly a month, amid growing concerns over rising U.S. production and the restart of Libya’s biggest oil field. June Brent on London’s ICE Futures exchange LCOM7, +0.58% was recently up 8 cents, or 1.2%, to $52.05 a barrel.”

(Market Watch)

“Gold rose on Friday as forecast-beating euro zone inflation boosted the euro against the dollar, while global stock markets retreated from Wednesday’s record highs as concerns about global trade subdued appetite for cyclical assets. The metal remains on track for its biggest weekly drop in seven, however, after appetite for nominally higher-risk assets sharpened early in the week at gold’s expense. Spot gold was up 0.3 percent at $1,267.61 an ounce by 1153 GMT, while U.S. gold futures for June delivery were up $3.30 at $1,269.20. Spot gold was down 1.3 percent from last Friday’s level, its biggest weekly loss since early March.”

(Reuters)

5. Market Movers:

Sarepta Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ:SRPT) reported a larger-than-expected loss but much better sales this morning, which had given its shares a small boost in pre-open trading. Speculation that Sarepta could be taken over, however, have caused its shares to skyrocket. Sarepta reported a loss of 60 cents a share, missing analyst expectations for 60 cents a share, but sales of $16.3 million easily surpassed the Street consensus for $13.9 million. Instinet’s Christopher Marai and team call it a “strong quarter” but see “more to come.

(Barron’s)

Cameco Corp (USA) (NYSE:CCJ), the world’s second-biggest uranium producer, posted a bigger-than-expected quarterly loss, partly hurt by the termination of a key sales contract, driving shares to a nearly five-month low. The stock fell more than 9 percent in Toronto trading to C$12.92, even though Cameco maintained its full-year guidance for deliveries and revenue. Tokyo Electric Power (Tepco), the operator of Japan’s wrecked Fukushima nuclear plant, scrapped its uranium supply contract with Cameco, the company said in February. The Canadian company said its loss was also related to weak uranium prices amid a prolonged glut, tracing back to the 2011 tsunami in Japan which shut all of that country’s nuclear reactors. A few have since restarted.

(Reuters)

On Thursday, Shares of GoPro Inc (NASDAQ:GPRO) lost -2.19% to $8.94. The share price is trading in a range of $8.91 – 9.36. The stock exchanged hands with 7.89 million shares contrast to its average daily volume of 3.16 million shares. GoPro, Inc. (GPRO) declared financial results for its first quarter ended March 31, 2017. Recent GoPro Highlights: According to The NPD Group’s Retail Tracking Service, in the U.S. in the first quarter GoPro accounted for 3 of the top 5 products, counting the top 3 spots, on a unit basis in the digital image category. HERO5 Black was the best-selling digital image camera in the U.S. in the first quarter on a unit and dollar basis. According to NPD, in March GoPro’s drone, Karma with HERO5 camera, was the #2 best-selling drone priced over $1,000 in the U.S. on a unit basis.

(Journal Finance)

Starbucks Corporation (NASDAQ:SBUX) trades lower after the company’s light report on comparable sales creates some anxiety, however several analysts are turning their focus on the late quarter momentum cited by SBUX management. Shares are down off their all-time high of $61.94 printed yesterday. Bernstein stick with an Outperform rating on Starbucks and bumps its price target to $67 on its view menu innovation is working. Wells Fargo says the long-term bull thesis is very much intact, and notes that 350 underperforming stores out of a base of 26K hit FQ2 results. Starbucks is in a review process on the Teavana mall-based stores that created the drag.

(Seeking Alpha)

In Technology sector, shares of Cerner Corporation (NASDAQ:CERN) were valued at $60.06 and moved 0.89% as of a recent closing trade. A total volume of 4.45 million shares were traded versus to average volume of 2.72 million shares. Cerner Corporation (CERN) shares have been seen trading -11.02% off its 52 week- peak value and changed 27.76% from its 52 week-bottom price value. The “percentage off the 52-week high or low” refers to when a stock current price is relative to where it has traded over the last 52 weeks. This gives investors an idea of how much the security has moved in the last year and whether it is trading near the top, middle or bottom of the range.

(WallStreet Morning)

Weatherford International Plc (NYSE:WFT) stock price tumbled -2.09% to finalize at $5.62 throughout previous buying and selling session. A total of 35.53 million shares exchanged at hands and its average trading volume is standing at 22.89 million shares. Important factors to focus when evaluating a stock’s present and future value are the 52 week price high and low levels. Shares of Weatherford International plc (WFT) are trading -33.80% downward from the 52-week high mark and 50.67% above from the fifty two-week low mark. Taking a glance at past performance, we will examine different up or down moving trends about WFT. The stock dropped -1.58% beyond one week and declined -13.54% during previous one month session.

(WSNews4Investors)

The stock of Prana Biotechnology Limited (ADR) (NASDAQ:PRAN) is a huge mover today! About 2.82M shares traded or 411.80% up from the average. Prana Biotechnology Limited (ADR) (NASDAQ:PRAN) has declined 40.55% since September 21, 2016 and is downtrending. It has underperformed by 50.98% the S&P500.The move comes after 8 months positive chart setup for the $26.06M company. It was reported on Apr, 28 by Barchart.com. We have $3.39 PT which if reached, will make NASDAQ:PRAN worth $1.56 million more. Ellsworth Growth and Income Fund Ltd. operates as a closed-end, diversified management investment company. The company has market cap of $116.93 million.

(Wolcott Daily)

Cypress Semiconductor Corporation (NASDAQ:CY) announced its first quarter 2017 results. GAAP and non-GAAP margins for the first quarter of 2017 were 37.4% and 39.3%, respectively, above the midpoint of guidance and in line with the Company’s margin-enhancing initiatives. Cypress Semiconductor Corporation (NASDAQ:CY) shares advanced 3.00% to $14.40 on Thursday. Cypress paid a dividend of $36.2 million, or $0.11 per share, to holders of record of the Company’s common stock as of the close of business on March 30, 2017. The dividend was equivalent to a 3.2% annualized yield as of March 31, 2017.

(Benchmark Monitor)

Synchrony Financial (NYSE:SYF) traded at a yearly high level of $38.06 during the last trading session. The last session’s volume of 7.14 million shares was higher than its average volume of 6.30 million shares. The stock, after opening at $33.44, closed at $33.05 by scoring -0.57%. The total market capitalization remained at $26.33 billion. Synchrony Financial (NYSE:SYF) have shown a high EPS growth of 3.50% in the last 5 years and has earnings growth of 7.00% yoy. Analysts have a mean recommendation of 1.70 on this stock (A rating of less than 2 means buy, “hold” within the 3 range, “sell” within the 4 range, and “strong sell” within the 5 range). The stock appeared -12.84% below its 52-week highs and is down -2.36% for the last five trades.

(Wall Street News24)

Cloudera Inc (NYSE:CLDR) shares bounced about 25 percent in their public debut on Friday. The stock started trading on the New York Stock Exchange on Friday under the ticker “CLDR.” Shares rose to $18 a share as the stock opened around 10.:45 a.m. ET, and last traded around $18.85 by mid-day. The company priced its IPO at $15 a share, above the expected range of $12 to $14 a share. But it’s significantly less than the $30.92 a share that Intel paid for the stock in 2014, according to regulatory documents.

(CNBC)

Shares of Carvana Co (NYSE:CVNA), which uses vending machine-like towers to sell used cars, fell 10 percent in their debut. The company’s shares opened at $13.50 on Friday, below the IPO price of $15, which valued the company at about $2 billion. Carvana sells cars through its website and also provides financing.

(Reuters)

Media headlines about Synchronoss Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ:SNCR) have been trending somewhat positive on Friday, according to Alpha One Sentiment. Alpha One, a unit of Accern, rates the sentiment of news coverage by analyzing more than 20 million blog and news sources in real time. Alpha One ranks coverage of publicly-traded companies on a scale of -1 to 1, with scores closest to one being the most favorable. Synchronoss Technologies earned a media sentiment score of 0.25 on Alpha One’s scale. Alpha One also assigned media headlines about the software maker an impact score of 61 out of 100, meaning that recent news coverage is somewhat likely to have an effect on the company’s share price in the immediate future.

(Chaffey Breeze)

Align Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:ALGN) soared 15% to a record high after the maker of invisible dental braces beat Q1 earnings expectations and the company gave a sunny outlook. Align forecast second-quarter EPS of 71 to 74 cents a share, better than the consensus estimate of 71 cents. The stock is at a record high, already extended from a 102.10 buy point reached in February.

(Investor’s Business Daily)

Host Hotels & Resorts, Inc. (NYSE:HST) stock is experiencing unusual volume during today’s trading.  While the stock price moved along with the volume change, shares are touching $18.10.  The day’s total volume of 14084717 this morning is in contrast from the three-month daily average of 7948.95K.  When we divide the current volume by the three-month average volume, we get a relative volume of 3.14. Host Hotels & Resorts, Inc. (NYSE:HST)‘s market cap, the total dollar value of all of their outstanding shares, is 14160.45m.  Including today’s unusual volume, Host Hotels & Resorts, Inc.‘s stock is performing at 3.26% on the year.

(The Hiram Herald)

Investors closely watching shares of Aaron’s, Inc. (NYSE:AAN) may want to focus in on the current opinion signal for the stock. The opinion signal for the current trading session is 88% Buy. Looking back at the last month, the opinion signal reads 8% Buy. This is the combined signal for the previous month when applying a wide array of studies based on price movement. Investors may also be interested in the direction of the opinion signals. The opinion direction is currently Top 1%. This is a measurement over the past three trading sessions that provides an indication of whether the latest recent price movement is following the signal.

(Stock Rover)

Market watchers may be taking a closer look at the numbers for Transenterix Inc (NYSEMKT:TRXC). ROIC (Return on Invested Capital) is a financial metric that can be used to measure how efficient a company is at allocating controlled capital into profitable investments. ROIC has the capability of providing a good sense of how a company is using its money to generate returns. ROIC may offer the clearest picture of just how efficient a company is at using its capital. TransEnterix, Inc. presently has an ROIC of -1.401805. The current ROIC 5 year average is -1.671712 and the ROIC Quality ratio is currently -1.371068.

(Searcy Sentinel)

Shares of Companhia Brasileira de Distribuicao-ADR (NYSE:CBD) have seen the needle move 9.76% or $2.00 in the most recent session. The NYSE listed company saw a recent bid of 22.49 on 1126050 volume. Now let’s take a look at how the fundamentals are stacking up for Companhia Brasileira de Distribuicao (CBD). Fundamental analysis takes into consideration market, industry and stock conditions to help determine if the shares are correctly valued. Companhia Brasileira de Distribuicao currently has a yearly EPS of -0.58. This number is derived from the total net income divided by shares outstanding. In other words, EPS reveals how profitable a company is on a share owner basis.

(The Tuckerman Times)

6. Interesting Reads

“Scientists in Sweden have built the world’s fastest camera, capable of snapping 5 trillion images per second — that’s an image every 0.2 trillionths of a second. The camera could be employed to observe super fast processes in chemistry, physics, biology and biomedicine. Researchers used their new record-breaking camera to document photons traversing a distance equivalent to the width of a piece of paper. In reality, the process takes a picosecond — one trillionth, or one millionth of one millionth of a second. Using the camera, researchers can break the process down into an observable action, slowed down by a factor of one trillion.”

(UPI.com)

“Mindfulness meditation, a commonly used treatment for a broad spectrum of mental health disorders, shows significantly greater effects in reducing negative thinking patterns in women than men, new research shows. A study conducted by investigators at Yale School of Medicine in New Haven, Connecticut, found that women experienced significantly greater decreases in negative affect compared to their male counterparts. “A key take-home message from this is that a one-size-fits-all approach to mindfulness training may not be most effective for everyone and that more tailored approaches may be worth looking into,” first author Rahil Rojiani, an MD candidate at Yale School of Medicine, told Medscape Medical News.“

(Medscape)

“If you love interesting facts, make sure to read our list of the 10 biggest hidden treasures ever found in the world. We live in the 21^st century and we always think that we cannot be surprised or amazed anymore since everything is known and possible. However, there are still some things that can amaze and impress us, convincing us that we still live in the world that is quite mysterious and incredible, and that our knowledge is quite limited. Generally speaking, the history of the world is impressively rich and if you are into it, and you like to read about unusual things, don’t forget to read our list of 10 Most Successful Pirates in History.“

(Insider Monkey)

“There is an age-related decline in children’s physical activity levels as they progress through primary school, according to a British Heart Foundation-funded study. Researchers at the University of Bristol found that children spent less time doing physical activity and spent more time sedentary from Year 1 (aged 5-6) to Year 4 (aged 8-9). Additionally, by the time they got to Year 4, around a third of boys and two thirds of girls aged eight to nine years old in the study were failing to meet Chief Medical Officer’s (CMO) recommended physical activity guidelines of an hour of physical activity per day. Previous research has shown that low levels of physical activity in childhood can track into adulthood, suggesting that we should be doing more to ensure children keep active throughout their younger lives.”

(Medical Xpress)

“Self-driving cars are popping up all over, but UK-based StreetDrone thinks it should be easier for the education market to pick one up, ready with all the sensors and tech on board they need to provide the basis for research and study. That’s why they created the StreetDrone ONE, an electric vehicle built using the Renault Twizy with a suite of autonomous driving sensors, ready for self-driving study. The StreetDrone ONE is intended to offer a hands-on learning opportunity for students who would like to explore the growing field of self-driving tech, and comes in a number of package options with different sensor loadouts and connectivity options.”

(Tech Crunch)

“Sony’s PlayStation division has never been more important to its bottom line. The company posted some lacklustre numbers today for the fiscal year ending on March 31st, but its video game efforts continue to impress. The company sold 20 million PlayStation 4 consoles over the 12-month period, beating the 17.7 million figure posted in its 2015 fiscal year. Those numbers helped Sony’s gaming division pull in 1,650 billion yen (roughly $14.73 billion), a 6.3 percent increase year-over-year. More importantly, gaming-related profit rose by an impressive 46.9 billion yen to 135.6 billion yen (roughly $1.1 billion), up from 88.7 billion yen the year prior.”

(Engadget)

“If you think you have the idea for the next best business, you should try getting started in one of the best cities for startups in the world. Working for a startup is exhilarating. It’s an ever-changing work environment because you’re part of something that has yet to be created and it’s constantly adapting to meet needs or new markets. It seems like everyone these days has an idea for the next great startup company because there’s always something new to create and a market that’s been left untouched. Car services are a prime example because while a lot of cities have cabs, apps like Lyft, Gett, and Uber have revolutionized the way we call a car to take us somewhere. When it’s late at night and the trains aren’t running as frequently, I always call a Gett to take me to my apartment.”

(Insider Monkey)

“Your Windows 10 display doesn’t look quite right. Maybe the color is off. Maybe the text is too small (or too large). Maybe the resolution isn’t to your liking. Well, don’t despair. You can customize your display in Windows 10 to make it look just right; resize the text, change the resolution, calibrate the color, and more. The process for customizing your display varies somewhat depending on your version of Windows 10. If you’re still running a pre-Creators Update version, like the Anniversary Update, you follow one set of steps; Creators Update, which started rolling out in April, requires a different set of steps. Microsoft rarely makes anything simple. But you can still accomplish most of steps no matter which flavor of Windows 10 you’re using.”

(PCMag)