40 Fresh Stories to Know How is it Going in the Financial Markets Today

1. U.S. Stock Market:

“U.S. equities traded mostly lower on Friday as investors digested a tough week for retailers as well as mixed economic data. The Dow Jones industrial average fell about 30 points, with Goldman Sachs contributing the most losses. The S&P 500 dropped 0.2 percent, with industrials lagging, while the SPDR S&P Retail ETF (XRT) fell about 1.7 percent. The Dow Jones industrial average fell 40 points, or 0.2 percent, to 20,878, with General Electric and Apple the top advancer. The S&P 500 dropped 5 points, or 0.24 percent, to 2,388, with industrials leading nine sectors lower and utilities and information technology outperforming. The Nasdaq rose 2 points, or 0.05 percent, to 6,118.”

(CNBC)

“U.S. stocks traded slightly lower on Friday and were on track for a modest weekly decline as investors weighed an uncertain political environment stemming from President Donald Trump’s firing of former Federal Bureau of Investigation Director James Comey. The Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA, -0.14% fell 33 points, or 0.2%, to 20,888. The S&P 500 index SPX, -0.16% slipped 4 points, or 0.2%, to 2,389. The Nasdaq Composite Index COMP, +0.11% edged up 5 points to 6,121.”

(Market Watch)

“U.S. stocks, Treasury yields and the dollar edged lower Friday, as the latest batch of U.S. economic data fell short of expectations. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 30 points, or 0.1%, to 20889. The S&P 500 dropped 0.2%, and the Nasdaq Composite edged up less than 0.1%.”

(Fox Business)

“Wall Street fell on Friday and was on track to end the week lower as tepid economic data weighed on banks and worries deepened over Nordstrom (JWN.N) and other department stores. At 2:25 pm ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI was down 0.2 percent to 20,878.36 points and the S&P 500 .SPX had lost 0.23 percent to 2,388.83. The Nasdaq Composite .IXIC edged up 0.05 percent to 6,119.30.”

(Reuters)

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2. U.S. Bond Market:

“Treasury yields headed South early Friday after two key economic measures both disappointed. The yield on the 10-year note quickly fell to 2.35% from 2.38% just before the report. It had traded as high as 2.42% a day earlier.”

(Barron’s)

“U.S. stock futures edged lower Friday as quarterly results continued to pressure shares of retailers, while economic releases weighed on the dollar and Treasury yields. 10-year U.S. Treasury yields edged down slightly to 2.355% from 2.400% Thursday. Yields move inversely to prices.”

(Fox Business)

“The U.S. Treasuries rallied on expectations of a rise in the country’s retail sales for the month of April, scheduled to be held later in the day. The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury slumped nearly 3 basis points to 2.37 percent, the super-long 30-year bond yields also plunged nearly 3 basis points to 3.01 percent while the yield on short-term 2-year note traded nearly 2 basis points lower at 1.33 percent.”

(EconoTimes)

3. FX Markets:

“The U.S. dollar tilted slightly lower Friday, with updates on retail sales and inflation closing out what will still likely be a notable, winning week for the greenback’s performance. One euro EURUSD, +0.5524% fetched $1.0871, a touch higher than $1.0863 late Thursday in New York. Against the yen, USDJPY, -0.40% the dollar slipped to ¥113.78 from ¥113.87. On Friday, sterling GBPUSD, -0.0155% traded at $1.2867, down from $1.2887 late Thursday in New York.”

(Market Watch)

“The dollar tumbled after a slew of US data. The US dollar index is down by 0.3% at 99.34 as of 8:51 a.m. ET. The euro is up by 0.5% at 1.0914 against the dollar after data showed German GDP rose by 0.6% in the first quarter, in line with expectations, and German CPI held flat for April, also in line with expectations. The Japanese yen is higher by 0.5% at 113.37 per dollar. The British pound is little changed at 1.2885 against the dollar.”

(Business Insider)

“The Pound to Dollar recovered on Friday after the release of US Inflation and Retail Sales data undershot expectations and raised questions about the strength of the US recovery. GBP/USD recovered from the 1.2850 post-FOMC lows to highs of 1.2880 at the time of writing, in the ten minutes after the release of the data.”

(PoundSterling Live)

“From March 10 through April 11, the Japanese yen was the strongest currency in the world. It appreciated 4.7% against the dollar. Among the majors, sterling can in second place with a 2.7% gain. Among emerging market currencies, the yen edged past the Mexican peso’s 4.4% rise. That was then. This is now. Since April 11, the yen is the world’s weakest currency. It lost 3.6% against the greenback. The Canadian dollar is a close second with a 3.3% decline. In the emerging market space, the Chilean peso has been the worst performer, nursing a 2.7% loss.”

(FX Street)

4. Commodities:

“Oil prices consolidated on Friday with a correction from sharp gains seen after this week’s inventories data as markets increasingly focussed on the May 25th OPEC meeting. WTI oil prices hit selling interest close to $48.20 p/b during US trading on Thursday and edged back below the $48.00 level as prices corrected from the sharp gains seen following the inventories data earlier in the week. Prices consolidated just below $48.00 in Asian trading with a lack of fresh incentives.”

(Economic Calendar)

“Gold tried for its third-straight winning session on Friday, a feat it had not achieved since mid-April, as the dollar drifted lower ahead of U.S. retail sales and inflation data. Gold for June GCM7, +0.46% rose by $4.70, or 0.4%, to $1,229 an ounce. It is on track to finish the week little changed. Gold has been declining in the face of prospects for higher interest rates and as riskier investments, including stocks, remain in favor. July silver SIN7, +1.08% rose 13 cents or 0.8%, to $16.39 an ounce. On a continuous contract basis, silver is also poised for its third-straight win, which hasn’t happened since mid-April. It looks to wrap up the week about where it finished last Friday.”

(Market Watch)

“SILVER PRICES rallied with gold and both metals recovered last week’s closing level in US Dollar terms in London trade on Friday. Silver prices rose above $16.40 per ounce as government bonds rose with world stock markets and commodities ahead of key US data on retail sales and consumer-price inflation.”

(BullionVault)

5. Market Movers:

Trade Desk Inc (NASDAQ:TTD), which offers a technology platform for ad buyers globally, has secured a $200 million credit facility. The administrative agent and lead arranger of the credit facility was Citibank N.A. Other additional lenders included Bank Hapaolim, Union Bank, US Bank, East West Bank and City National Bank. With the facility, Trade Desk will be able to restate and amend the firm’s present outstanding credit facility as the company will be able to borrow amounts totaling $200 million. This will be at a yearly rate of LIBOR or prime. There will also be an applicable margin. Some of the purposes the facility could be put to includes acquisitions, working capital as well as general corporate purposes.

(Market Exclusive)

General Electric Company (NYSE:GE) shares fell more than 2% Friday after the company’s stock was downgraded to “sell” from “hold” by analysts at Deutsche Bank who said that the company will be forced to cut its current 24 cents per share dividend and lower its earnings guidance in the coming years. “GE’s weak cash flow has become worse in recent quarters … The company appears to be operating relatively ‘close to the line’ in terms of sufficient cash generation to continue to fund such a robust dividend and share repurchase program,” analyst John Inch said. GE shares fell 2.5% to $28.16.

(TheStreet)

Twitter Inc (NYSE:TWTR) is trumping bears off and on the TWTR stock chart … but if you’re looking to make your trading account great again, using a Twitter spread in lieu of shares is definitely worth the time spent. Let me explain. TWTR stock is back. Long pronounced dead by bears and the platform of choice for our fair nation’s Commander-in-Chief, Twitter recently issued a rousingly good report. For their part, traders bid up shares of Twitter by 7.50% in the immediate aftermath while adding 24% over the five-day period.

(Investor Place)

A trial of AstraZeneca plc (ADR) (NYSE:AZN)‘s key immunotherapy drug durvalumab showed it reduced disease progression in lung cancer patients, sending the company’s shares higher and giving it a lead over rivals as it seeks to transform its oncology business. The trial results are an unexpectedly early boost for the product, known commercially as Imfinzi, which the company hopes will become a blockbuster drug with sales in the billions of dollars. It sets AstraZeneca apart from rivals Merck and Roche, whose equivalent drugs are years behind in the race for similar treatments against lung cancer. Shares in AstraZeneca extended gains to be up by 9.1 percent by mid-afternoon, the top FTSE 100 riser, hitting its highest level since September 2016 and set for its biggest one day rise since May 2014.

(Reuters)

Nordstrom, Inc. (NYSE:JWN) shares were left reeling despite a first quarter that saw a beat on both the top and bottom lines. The department store, often viewed as one of the strongest company’s in a struggling retail environment, fell over 11 percent on Thursday. While comp sales fell 2.8 percent at the company’s flagship stores, a bright spot for Nordstrom was at its discount retail store Nordstrom Rack, which saw an impressive 8.7 net sales increase and a 2.3 increase in comps. Online sales made up 24 percent of total sales in the quarter.

(Benzinga)

Traders are taking a second look at how shares of Alere Inc (NYSE:ALR) have been performing lately. A favorite tool among technical stock analysts is the moving average. Moving averages are considered to be lagging indicators that simply take the average price of a stock over a specific period of time. Moving averages can be very useful for identifying peaks and troughs. They may also be used to help the trader figure out proper support and resistance levels for the stock. Currently, the 200-day MA is sitting at 40.88, and the 50-day is 43.14.

(The Standard)

Pandora Media Inc (NYSE:P) has placed itself up for sale and it believes that it will have a buyer within the next 30 days. Pandora made it officially known that it is welcoming its buyout within the next 30 days. Sources familiar with the matter told CNBC that the company believes it can attract a suitable deal in the next month. This expectation might seem too ambitious for the media streaming company. However, a recent report stated that a private equity firm called KKR invested $150 million in Pandora in exchange for a board seat and convertible preference shares.

(Market Exclusive)

Petroleo Brasileiro SA Petrobras (ADR) (NYSE:PBR) has room to improve the efficiency of its investments and payroll spending, executives said on Friday, underscoring that a record first-quarter operating profit was just an early sign of what their turnaround plan can accomplish. Preferred shares of the company, known as Petrobras , jumped as much as 5 percent to an 11-week high of 15.58 reais in early trading after it released first-quarter results late on Thursday. Rising offshore output, sales of non-essential assets and rigorous cost controls helped Petrobras to beat profit forecasts and generate the most earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization in its history.

(Reuters)

MannKind Corporation (NASDAQ:MNKD) investors have certainly had an interesting week. Investors playing the swings are happy this week because there were certainly some wild swings in the stock. MannKind stock went from a low of $0.66 to a high of $1.88 before retreating to its current trading in the $1.20’s. Script sales for the week ending May 5th remain less than impressive. Sales are very stagnant at less than 300 scripts per week.

(Seeking Alpha)

United States Steel Corporation (NYSE:X) is looking very interesting as a trading opportunity right now. The technical setup offers the best window into what traders can expect whether they are bullish on the play or bearish. We’re therefore exploring these deeper technical numbers with a view to helping traders make better decisions on the current trading prospects of X. Before we get into the numbers let’s take a look at the importance of these numbers that help to make up the technical chart. In trading you can often take lots of shots without having any real hits. Technical charts, when used rightly, can significantly improve your chances of scoring hits. This is why we build our trading theses around them.

(NY Stock News)

DURECT Corporation (NASDAQ:DRRX) shares are up over 10% after the developer of drug delivery systems posted their Q1, 2017 earnings. DRRX ended trading yesterday at $1.10, gapped up to open the session at $1.12 and hit an inter-day high of $1.29. Volumes supporting the gains have been strong. The 30-day, daily average volume is listed at 696,530 but before 1 PM EST over 3 million shares have traded hands. DURECT Corporation (NASDAQ:DRRX), founded in 1998, develops drug delivery systems that enhance the physical, pharmacokinetic, and pharmacodynamic properties of the active agents. They have also entered the new field of molecular pharmacology and have developed a family of endogenous molecules that have exhibited potentially promising results.

(Stock News Union)

The company is working with financial advisers on a potential sale, according to Bloomberg’s Alex Sherman. Potential buyers would naturally be major wireless and cable companies. The move comes following the big bidding war for Straight Path Communications (won this week by Verizon). Globalstar, Inc. (NYSEMKT:GSAT) recently won U.S. approval to use its satellite airwaves for mobile broadband service.

(Seeking Alpha)

Rexahn Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NYSEMKT:RNN) is having an overwhelmingly strong day in the market today. While no new news has been released today, a quick look on StockTwits tells the whole story. At the end of the day, investors are excited as the company’s flagship candidate is quickly making its way to its next data release. Of course, our partners at Trade Ideas were the first to alert us to the gains. At the moment (9:54), RNN is trading at $4.49 per share after a gain of $0.52 per share or 13.10% thus far today.

(CNA Finance)

Geron Corporation (NASDAQ:GERN) is an interesting player in the Healthcare space, with a focus on Biotechnology. The stock has been active on the tape, currently trading at $2.68, up from yesterday’s close by 3.47%. Given the stock’s recent action, it seemed like a good time to take a closer look at the company’s recent data. Fundamental Analysis: Does this stock stack up well when compared to its peers in the industry space? Let’s take a look. Geron Corporation (GERN) currently trades with a market capitalization of $426.51 Million. That value represents a market adjusting for revenues that have been falling by -28.30 % on a quarterly year/year basis as of the company’s last quarterly report.

(Stock News Journal)

Shares of Inovio Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:INO) are experiencing unusual volume during today’s trading. While the stock price moved along with the volume change, shares are touching $7.40 at the time of writing. The day’s total volume of 1720953 this morning is in contrast from the three-month daily average of 739.72K. When we divide the current volume by the three-month average volume, we get a relative volume of 4.11. Inovio Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:INO)‘s market cap, the total dollar value of all of their outstanding shares, is 482.56m. Including today’s unusual volume, Inovio Pharmaceuticals, Inc.‘s stock is performing at -2.74% on the year. For the week, the stock is performing 2.90%. Over the past month the firm’s stock is 9.76%, 3.85% for the last quarter, 2.74% for the past six-months and -28.87% for the last year.

(The Hiram Herald)

Security company Cyberark Software Ltd (NASDAQ:CYBR) has acquired Conjur for $42 million cash. Conjur has developed identification and auditing software for the DevOps market. With the deal, CyberArk is positioning itself to provide a more complete suite of offerings to the quickly growing DevOps market segment. Information security company CyberArk Software Ltd. (CYBR) announced that it has acquired DevOps security technology startup Conjur for $42 million in an all cash transaction. Conjur has developed security identification and auditing software for organizations utilizing a DevOps approach to deploying software updates.

(Seeking Alpha)

Headlines about Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMD) have trended somewhat positive recently, AlphaOne Sentiment reports. The research firm, a division of Accern, identifies positive and negative news coverage by reviewing more than 20 million news and blog sources in real-time. AlphaOne ranks coverage of publicly-traded companies on a scale of -1 to 1, with scores closest to one being the most favorable. Advanced Micro Devices earned a news impact score of 0.17 on AlphaOne’s scale. AlphaOne also assigned media stories about the semiconductor manufacturer an impact score of 78 out of 100, meaning that recent news coverage is likely to have an effect on the company’s share price in the next several days.

(Baseball News Source)

6. Interesting Reads

“Announced in 2015 to a wildly positive response, the 2017 Ford GT is the second resurrection of the GT40, the car that captured the first win for Ford (and the United States) in one of the most prestigious races in the world: the 24 Hours of Le Mans. This new GT was supposed to honor that 1966 accomplishment in a way that the 2005 reincarnation never did — by being both an amazing supercar on the road, while also giving Ford the chance to return to victory lane on the track. Last summer, on the 50th anniversary of that historic first win, Ford fulfilled half of that goal by coming home first in its class at Le Mans.”

(The Verge)

“Humans have a centuries-old reputation as poor smellers. We can see more colors than the average mammal, but our noses are simply no match for the questing snouts of rabbits and hounds. Sure, the aromas of coffee and pie are great. But intelligent humans outgrew the need to sniff our way through life. Or so the thinking went. In a review published Thursday in the journal Science, John McGann, a professor of psychology at Rutgers University in New Jersey, argued that this is a flawed perception dating back to the 19th century. He blamed pioneering French anatomist Paul Broca, who wrote that, given the comparatively small olfactory organs in the primate brain, “it is no longer the sense of smell that guides the animal.”

(BDN Maine)

“If you’ve already forgotten, Google GOOGL +0.11% Allo is that messaging app with a strong artificial intelligence back-end. To further refresh your memory, Allo is the one with Google Assistant, a digital servant that offers up Smart Replies and other suggestions for your lame ass day-to-day life. Now Allo is adding a feature that embraces your addiction to your own face by turning it into an emoji. The thing is, as narcissistically moronic as turning yourself into an emoji is, the technology behind doing so is quite complex. In fact, it’s so complex that Google isn’t even calling it a selfie.”

(Forbes)

“Are you one of the thousands suffering from severe acne in the United States? Like many others, you might be avoiding specialized treatment because of the cost. You groan at the thought of paying for an expensive dermatologist on top of any over-the-counter or prescription medications. Rather than ignoring your acne problem, however, you could try a variety of cheap home remedies to clear up the inflammation. Click here to read more.”

(Fox News Health)

“Apple launched a new site on Friday with sixteen videos dedicated to teaching iPhone 7 owners how to take better photos. Apple has always marketed how great its phones are at taking photos, often showing off shots snapped by professional photographers, but it hasn’t yet provided such useful and simple tutorials to users. These sixteen videos are simple in their scope, allowing everyone to better understand what they can do with the phones that are already in their pocket.”

(CNBC)

“You’ve read the Galaxy S8 reviews, and suddenly your Galaxy S7 seems old and antiquated. However, upon closer inspection and thought, you might realize that your Galaxy S7 isn’t really that far behind the Galaxy S8. Sure, the Galaxy S8 boasts a bunch of new features and a gorgeous design, but do those new additions warrant an upgrade that’ll set you back at least $700? And if you have an older phone but the Galaxy S8’s price tag seems high, you could be better off, and $150 richer, by upgrading to the Galaxy S7 instead.”

(Business Insider)

“Bank of America Merrill Lynch said in a note to investors on Friday that Apple has a huge opportunity to increase its revenues by $100 billion in the long term by entering new product areas, including expanding its presence in healthcare, exploring the console gaming market and launching a Siri smart home assistant. “In our opinion, Apple is well positioned to capture share in the video game market using its iOS platform, but also to leverage that more broadly over time to support an experience similar to console gaming,” BoA Merrill Lynch said. “Further recent hires suggest that the capability of the Apple TV can incorporate console gaming and set-top box all integrated into a single product down the road.”

(CNBC)

“It is always fun knowing something amazing that most of the people do not know, and among many interesting things we have picked the 11 easiest card tricks to learn in the world. Why card tricks are so amazing and handy to know, is because you can do them anywhere, you just need a simple deck of cards (well, sometimes a bit modified deck). According to specialists, mastering magic tricks consist of three stages: discovery, practice, and mastery. For practicing card tricks, you’ll need to train your fingers and hand movements in order to do them properly and make it look like real magic. And never do your tricks if you haven’t mastered them!”

(Insider Monkey)

“If you often feel sick when you eat or drink something then our list of 10 easiest ways to make yourself gag or throw up fast will definitely help you. Do you like going out and staying late? How many times have you had too many drinks and then felt nauseated and wishing you could just throw up? If you could just get that alcohol out of your system then you wouldn’t have such a hangover the next day. Oh, how you regret the night before and you will never ever do anything like that ever again! Sounds familiar? Inexperienced drinkers often make the mistake of drinking too much or mixing different types of strong alcohol drinks. Even though this usually happens when we’re younger, it is still possible when we’re older, too.”

(Insider Monkey)