Financial Markets Snapshot: 20+ Stories That You Should Read Today

1. US Stock Market:

“U.S. stocks were higher in on Thursday, with the S&P 500 index on track for its best day in about seven weeks, as American Express set the tone for the latest batch of earnings. The credit card company (AXP.N) was up 5.8 percent as the top boost to the Dow Industrials after reporting a smaller-than-expected drop in quarterly profit late Wednesday. CSX Corp (CSX.O), up 5.6 percent, was one of the best performers on the S&P 500 after the railroad company reported a better-than-expected quarterly net profit driven by rising freight volumes and said it plans to cut costs and boost profitability moving forward.”

(Reuters)

“The stock market rallied Thursday, with the Nasdaq poised for a record finish as investors welcomed on a deluge of stronger-than-expected corporate earnings reports and economic data. Reports that House Republicans may be reaching a deal to repeal and replace Obamacare also boosted sentiment, analysts said. The S&P 500 SPX, +0.85%  climbed 21 points, or 0.9%, to 2,359. Financials and materials topped the gainers. The Dow industrials DJIA, +0.96%  gained 204 points, or 1%, to 20,609, recovering its losses from the previous session. American Express Co AXP, +6.04%  was the best performer among blue-chips, up more than 5%, following earnings.”

(Market Watch)

“U.S. stocks edged higher on Thursday as investors focused on a deluge of corporate earnings reports and economic data. The S&P 500 gained 7 points, or 0.2%, to 2,345, with six of the 11 main sectors trading higher. Industrials and materials led the gainers, up about 0.7%. Telecoms stocks were the worst performers, down 1%. The Nasdaq Composite advanced 23 points, or 0.4%, to 5,886. The Dow industrials advanced 50 points, or 0.3%, to 20,455.”

(Fox Business)

“U.S. stocks rose on Thursday as more companies released quarterly results while oil prices tried to rebound from their worst one-day performance since March. The Dow Jones industrial average rose about 80 points with American Express contributing the most gains. The S&P 500 gained 0.4 percent, with energy rising about 1 percent to lead advancers. The Nasdaq composite outperformed, rising 0.5 percent.”

(CNBC)

Image By Monkey Business – Adobe

2. US Bond Market:

“U.S. government debt prices were lower on Thursday as investors digested several pieces of data. The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note was higher at around 2.227 percent, while the yield on the 30-year Treasury bond was also higher at 2.882 percent. Yields move inversely to prices.”

(CNBC)

“The U.S. Treasuries slumped ahead of the United States Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin’s speech, scheduled to be held later in the day. The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury jumped 2-1/2 basis points to 2.22 percent, the super-long 30-year bond yields also climbed 2-1/2 basis points to 2.88 percent and the yield on short-term 2-year note traded nearly 1-1/2 basis points higher at 1.18 percent.”

(EconoTimes)

3. FX Markets:

“The US dollar declined against most major counterparts in early European deals on Thursday. The greenback reversed from an early high of 1.2773 versus the pound, edging down to 1.2842. The greenback that closed yesterday’s trading at 1.0711 versus the euro and 0.9982 against the Swiss franc slipped to more than 3-week lows of 1.0776 and 0.9945, respectively. Retreating from an early high of 0.7493 against the aussie, the greenback dropped to 0.7532. The greenback is likely to find support around 0.77 against the aussie, 1.30 against the pound, 0.98 against the franc and 1.09 against the euro.”

(London South East)

“The dollar edged lower Thursday with the first round of the French presidential election in focus. The dollar index was off 0.15% at 03:00 ET at 99.56. Polls show centrist candidate Emmanuel Macron with a narrow lead in the French race. But the outcome of Sunday’s ballot is too close to call. The euro was up 0.28% at $1.0742. The dollar eased 0.11% to 108.74 yen as Japanese exports surged an annual 12% in March. However, uncertainty remains about the outcome of U.S.-Japan trade talks. U.S. rate hike odds lowered on doubts about Trump’s ability to deliver on his pro-growth agenda. The Beige Book released Wednesday showed only modest inflationary pressure in the U.S. The pound was up 0.41% at $1.2828 as the U.K. parliament approved a snap general election on June 8.”

(Investing.com)

4. Commodities:

“Gold prices are slightly lower in early U.S. trading Thursday, as risk appetite in the world marketplace has up-ticked a bit this week, as evidenced by gains in most world stock markets. Some more backing and filling on the charts and profit-taking from the shorter-term futures traders are also featured after gold prices hit a five-month high on Monday. June Comex gold was last down $2.40 an ounce at $1,281.00. May Comex silver was last up $0.003 at $18.165 an ounce.”

(Kitco News)

“Oil prices were largely flat on Thursday after steep losses the previous session, with rising U.S. production weighing against comments from leading Gulf oil producers that an extension to OPEC-led supply cuts was likely. Brent futures were at $52.93 barrel at 1345 GMT, unchanged from their last close. U.S. crude futures were down 9 cents at $50.50 a barrel. Both benchmarks had traded more than 50 cents higher earlier in the day, but gains eased at the start of U.S. trading hours.”

(Reuters)

“Crude oil prices moved lower in early Thursday trading, continuing a downturn sparked by demand-driven factors in the U.S. energy market. Crude oil closed down sharply by the end of the trading day Wednesday after investors mulled over the latest data set from the U.S. Energy Information Administration. The official data from the United States, the world’s leading economy, provide indications of market factors related to supply and demand by way of inventory levels for oil and gasoline.”

(UPI.com)

5. Market Movers:

Shares of steel companies surged after President Trump signed a directive asking for a speedy probe into whether imports of foreign-made steel are hurting U.S. national security. United States Steel Corporation (NYSE:X) jumped more than 8 percent, as investors doubled down on Trump’s “Made in USA” promise. AK Steel, Steel Dynamics and Cliffs Natural Resources, all steel-related stocks, were up more than 2.5 percent each. AK Steel was further tracking on pace for its best day since April 7, when the stock gained more than 8 percent.

(CNBC)

Ocwen Financial Corporation (NYSE:OCN) shares are struggling to make any headway in today’s session. In early trading, the stock has dipped -55.19% on steady volume. The action so far has landed shares on the top loser list for the morning session.Ocwen Financial Corporation (NYSE:OCN) is seeing declines so far in today’s trading session.  Shares are moving -55.19% lower on solid volume. The stock has landed on the top loser list for the day according to Finviz data.  Ocwen Financial Corporation (NYSE:OCN)‘s stock has performed at 0.19% year to date.  Breaking that down further, it has performed -1.28% for the week, 10.20% for the month, 8.00% over the last quarter, 51.26% for the past half-year and 118.62% for this last year.

(Aiken Advocate)

eBay Inc. (NASDAQ:EBAY) stock is experiencing unusual volume during today’s trading.  While the stock price moved along with the volume change, shares are touching $32.81.  The day’s total volume of 17181495 this morning is in contrast from the three-month daily average of 8902.48K.  When we divide the current volume by the three-month average volume, we get a relative volume of 2.97. Trading volume is a hugely important consideration for any investor.  By watching how many shares are trading hands and looking for any changes in that activity, trading opportunities can be spotted along with a deeper understanding of the reliability of other indicators on the stock.

(Hiram Herald)

During the past trading session, shares of Cliffs Natural Resources Inc. (NYSE:CLF) traded +7.282%. Covering analysts are predicting the stock to move to $8.360 within the next year. Depending on the analyst, target price projections may differ widely. This target price is a consensus number based on polled analysts by Thomson Reuters.  Analysts and investors may use different metrics in order to calculate a price target projection. A very common metric used is the price to earnins ratio of a company. This calculation comes from dividing the current share price by the projected earnings per share.

(Rockville Register)

Tesla Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA) on April 20 is falling 0.86% or $2.62 to $302.83 on midday Thursday, after CNBC reported that the automaker ordered a recall of 53,000 Model S and Model X cars over a “potential issue” involving parking brakes. “We do not believe this issue could ever lead to a safety concern for our customers, and we have not seen a single accident or injury relating to it,” Tesla said according to the report. “However, in order to be overly cautious, we are going to be proactively replacing these parts to ensure that no issues arise.”

(Insider Monkey)

Shares of SkyPeople Fruit Juice, Inc. (NASDAQ:SPU) are experiencing unusual volume during today’s trading.  While the stock price moved along with the volume change, shares are touching $3.80 at the time of writing.  The day’s total volume of 1844392 this morning is in contrast from the three-month daily average of 122.57K.  When we divide the current volume by the three-month average volume, we get a relative volume of 23.18. Trading volume is a hugely important consideration for any investor.  By watching how many shares are trading hands and looking for any changes in that activity, trading opportunities can be spotted along with a deeper understanding of the reliability of other indicators on the stock.

(The Hiram Herald)

VirnetX Holding Corporation (NYSEMKT:VHC) shares are displaying elevated levels of volatility in today’s session. After a recent check, shares have been spotted at $3.08 showing a change in the session of 11.82%.Based on data provided from analysts polled by Thomson Reuters, VirnetX Holding Corp has a current consensus target price of 2.88. The current consensus analyst recommendation is sitting at 2.00 on company shares. Investors will likely be tracking any consensus estimate changes heading into the next earnings period. After a recent spot-check, VirnetX Holding Corp (:VHC)’s ATR is 0.18. The Average True Range (ATR) is a measure of stock volatility. The Average True Range is an exponential moving average (14-days) of the True Range.

(Aiken Advocate)

Shares of Altisource Portfolio Solutions S.A. (NASDAQ:ASPS) is moving on volatility today -10.37% or $-4.55 rom the open. The NASDAQ listed company saw a recent bid of 39.33 on 245947 volume. Now let’s take a look at how the fundamentals are stacking up for Altisource Portfolio Solutions SA (ASPS). Fundamental analysis takes into consideration market, industry and stock conditions to help determine if the shares are correctly valued. Altisource Portfolio Solutions SA currently has a yearly EPS of 1.46. 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.

(Pearson News)

Shares of TESARO Inc (NASDAQ:TSRO) are off almost 10% in afternoon trading on Thursday after the company announced the wholesale cost of 30 pills of ZEJULA 200mg at around $9833 per month. When incorporating the recommended dose of 300mg, that translates to a price of around $14,700 per month. The FDA gave the thumbs up to Zejula, which is approved for the maintenance treatment of adult patients with certain types of recurrent epithelial ovarian, fallopian tube or primary peritoneal cancer, in March and many investors have high expectations. Due to various fees, the net price of the drug is somewhat lower than what many on Wall Street were expecting. In part due to the softer pricing, several analysts downgraded TESARO Inc (NASDAQ:TSRO). Seamus Fernandez of Leerink lowered his target to $158 from $186, while Robyn Karnauskas of Citi cut her target to $216 from $232.

(Insider Monkey)

Shares of Immune Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:IMNP) rocketed 75% in active premarket trade Thursday, after the biopharmaceutical company announced a license agreement with Pint Pharma to commercialize Immune’s cancer treatment Ceplene in Latin America. Volume spiked to over 700,000 shares 30 minutes before the open, already more than four-times the full-day regular-session average of about 166,000 shares. As part of the agreement, Pint will make a $4 million investment in Immunue’s oncology subsidiary Cytovia. Celpene has been approved in Europe for the maintenance of first remission in patients with acute myeloid leukemia in combination with interleukin-2.

(Fox Business)

Virtu Financial Inc (NASDAQ:VIRT) agreed to acquire high-speed trading rival KCG Holdings, Inc. Class A (NYSE:KCG) for $1.4 billion, tying up two giant market makers as industry profits shrink. Virtu is paying $20 per share in cash for KCG, funding the transaction by selling $1.65 billion in debt and $750 million of stock, according to a statement Thursday. KCG, which fetched less than $14 before Virtu confirmed it bid for the company in March, surged 11 percent to $19.69 at 8:15 a.m. New York time. Virtu jumped 4.7 percent.

(Bloomberg)

CSX Corporation (NASDAQ:CSX) CSX 6.41% shares are trading higher by $4.00 (8.7 percent) at $50.93 in Thursday’s session. After Wednesday’s close, the company reported a Q1 adjusted EPS beat of $0.09 along with a $109 million beat for sales. After a sharply higher open, CSX had a brief retreat to $49.60, which is well ahead of the upper-end of Wednesday’s range at $47.32, and continued its move higher. Once it surpassed its opening high print of $50.45, the pace of the rally accelerated. It has continued to make new highs for the session and is quickly approaching $52.00 as $50.97 stands as the high for the session as of 10:21 a.m. ET.

(Benzinga)

SLM Corporation (NASDAQ:SLM) shares ended at $11.53 with 3.5 mln shares exchanging hands. That puts the market capitalization at $4.95 bln. It opened the session with a $11.6 price tag, later ranging from $11.41 to $11.6518, the range at which the stock has traded at throughout the day. The stock stands nearly -8.49% off versus the 52-week high and 107.37% away from the 52-week low. The number of shares currently owned by investors are 429.1 mln. Sell-side analyst recommendations point to a short term price target of $13.18 on the shares of SLM Corporation (SLM). The consensus rating is 1.5, indicating analysts in general look favorably on the company’s future prospects. It has been assigned a low target price of $10 and a high target price of $14.

(The Wellesleys News)

The share of Select Comfort Corp. (NASDAQ:SCSS) currently has a value of $25.87 while the company’s 52 week low is at $17.95, the shares dropped to the 52 week low on 10/20/16. While the company’s share hit the 52 week high on 08/15/16 stationing the value of $28.34. The difference of 52 week low value as well as 52 week high value and the current price of the stock suggests the next move of the shares. If the share price is currently hovering near the 52 week low and the value is achieved in the current past then it can suggest that the price of the shares is likely to go up.

(Top Chronicle)

North Atlantic Drilling Ltd. (NYSE:NADL) stock price escalated 13.79% to finalize at $1.98 throughout previous buying and selling session. A total of 2.1 million shares exchanged at hands and its average trading volume is standing at 0.89 million shares. Taking a glance at past performance, we will examine different up or down moving trends about NADL. The stock dropped -26.67% beyond one week and climbed 30.26% during previous one month session. The stock went down -36.33% at some stage in past quarter. Inside the closing six months period the stock’s performance declined -24.71% while overall yearly performance lost -35.08%. The Company’s year to date (YTD) performance is now negative at -37.54%.

(WSNews4Investors)

Per the Wall Street Journal, Exxon Mobil Corporation (NYSE:XOM) has sought a waiver from current sanctions to continue its joint venture in Russia. Earlier in the Obama administration, the U.S. initiated sanctions against Russia for its meddling in Ukraine. The sanctions prevented Exxon Mobil Corporation (NYSE:XOM) from participating in its joint venture to develop major resources in Russia’s arctic region as well as in other regions in the country. With today’s news, it seems that Exxon wants to make the current arrangement work, by both letting the broader sanctions continue (ex-Exxon) and by allowing the company to develop valuable resources in Russia.

(Insider Monkey)

Alphabet Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG) is trending on Thursday due to the news that the company’s Google unit is considering incorporating ad-blocking into its chrome browser. Specifically, both the mobile and the desktop chrome browser could allow users to filter ‘bad experience’ ads from websites such as auto-playing video ads with audio, pop-ups, etc. Although Google might harm itself in the short term given its ad distribution network, the company could come out ahead in the long run. By incorporating its own limited ad-blocker, Google might slow the adoption of more aggressive ad-blockers, which currently account for as much as 26% of all desktop users.

(Insider Monkey)

Gap Inc (NYSE:GPS) is on many watch-lists today after analyst Matthew Boss of JPMorgan upped his rating on the retailer to ‘Neutral’ from ‘Underweight’. Boss also raised his target price to $24 from the previous $21 per share, citing fieldwork research that indicated more stable sales at the company’s Old Navy division. Given that Gap shares have lagged over the past year and a half, Boss feels that the stock’s valuation is no longer overpriced versus peers. Shares of the fashion retailer had previously suffered due to slowing sales, but have been mostly range-bound in recent months. Gap Inc (NYSE:GPS) is up 9% year-to-date and yields around 3.8% at current prices. Today’s upgrade could potentially improve sentiment.

(Insider Monkey)

6. Interesting Reads

“GoPro today announced the Fusion, a camera capable of capturing spherical video for use in VR and standard video formats through a software solution. The camera will be released this fall. GoPro has yet to name the price. If nothing else GoPro is becoming a camera company again. The Fusion shows that GoPro is going back to its core competency in creating hardware. Action cameras existed before GoPro. But GoPro provided a better complete solution and the market responded by making the company top-selling vendor. GoPro likely hopes the same thing will happen with the Fusion and the rest of the spherical camera market.”

(Tech Crunch)

“Apple’s next-generation iPhone 8 is slated to debut this coming September, and it should be released either later that month or sometime soon after. But new flagship iPhones always launch in September, right? While that has been true ever since Apple shifted its release from the early summer to the late summer, recent reports suggest that Apple and its manufacturing partners are having trouble with a key piece of technology expected to debut in Apple’s tenth-anniversary smartphone. According to those reports, Apple was faced with two options: either delay the launch or ditch the tech. And now, perhaps for the first time ever, loyal Apple fans are praying that the company’s hotly anticipated new iPhone is delayed.”

(BGR.com)

“If you want to work for yourself without working completely on your own, you might be interested in the most profitable franchises to buy in 2017. Franchises are a pretty lucrative way to make money. You pretty much own your own business without the faff of coming up with your own concept. You own a branch of an already profitable company and try to make more money for yourself and the franchise itself. I remember one time Domino’s messed up my order and when I tried to contact Domino’s via Twitter they told me that they couldn’t do anything about it because the specific location that gave me issues was a franchise, which means I would’ve had to contact that store’s owner directly to address the problems.”

(Insider Monkey)

“There is something in the air today. Maybe you’ve noticed. April 20, or 4/20, is known as “Weed Day” in some circles because the date corresponds with a numerical code for marijuana. Yes, it seems arbitrary. So how did the number 420 come to represent smoking pot? First, let’s get the myths and rumors out of the way: The legend of the California penal code: Some claim the number is drawn from the California criminal codes used to punish the use or distribution of marijuana. But the state’s 420 code actually applies to obstructing entry on public land. So, not quite.”

(CNN Health)

“An Earth-like planet orbiting a small, cool star not far from our sun could be the best candidate so far for detecting life. The “super-Earth”, a rocky planet about six times the mass of Earth, orbits close in around the star LHS 1140, a red dwarf star about 40 light years from Earth. It’s in the “Goldilocks region”, an orbit where it’s not too hot and not too cold, so liquid water can exist on its surface. It was spotted by scientists at the MEarth observatory, and the research is published today in Nature.”

(BuzzFeed.com)

“Detroit — General Motors has stopped doing business in Venezuela after authorities took control of its only factory there in what GM called an illegal judicial seizure of its assets. The plant was confiscated on Wednesday as anti-government protesters clashed with authorities in a country that is roiling in economic troubles such as food shortages and triple-digit inflation. The Detroit automaker said in a statement Thursday that other assets such as vehicles were taken from the plant, causing irreparable damage to the company.”

(The Detroit News)