Day: December 20, 2016

How Risky Is DryShips Inc.’s Stock?

Shipping stocks are notoriously volatile due to the industry’s cyclicality, which can cause financial stress for shippers that borrow heavily to finance fleet growth. That said, DryShips Inc. takes that volatility to a whole new level.

FedEx Falls After Earnings Miss

FedEx Corp earnings came up short of analysts’ expectations Tuesday, and shares declined 3% in late trading. The shipping giant reported net income of $700 million, or $2.59 a share, on sales of $14.9 billion for its fiscal second quarter Tuesday afternoon.

Dow Finishes At Record, But Shy Of 20,000 Milestone

U.S. stocks finished higher on Tuesday, led by a rally in bank stocks, though the Dow Jones Industrial Average finished just below the psychologically important 20,000 level. Both the Dow and Nasdaq Composite Index closed at fresh all-time highs, with the S&P 500 index falling just short of its own record.

4 Things PACCAR Inc.’s CEO Wants You to Know for 2017

Here are four encouraging quotes from Armstrong that should also give you an idea about what lies ahead for PACCAR. Like most leading truck manufacturers, PACCAR is cautious about the North American trucking markets: It projectsindustry Class 8 truck sales to be 200,000-230,000 units in 2017, slightly lower than the 2016 midpoint estimate but significantly down from 2015 sales of 278,000 trucks.

House panel seeks new rules for Stingrays

A bipartisan report released Dec. 19 by the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform calls for standards on when law enforcement agencies should be allowed to use cell-site simulation technology — known as Stingrays — and calls on one federal agency to retire its unused device. This technology has been available for years and has met with harsh criticism from privacy advocates.

VW Reaches Deal for Emissions-Cheating Audi, Porsche Models

Volkswagen AG reached what was called a $1 billion agreement with U.S. car owners and regulators to fix or buy back about 83,000 Audi, VW and Porsche vehicles with emissions-cheating 3.0-liter diesel engines. The accord covering some 2009 to 2016 luxury models resolves another significant piece of Volkswagen’s emissions-cheating scandal.

El-Erian Says Sustaining Trump Rally Depends on Germany, China

The global stock surge tied to Donald Trump’s victory in the U.S. has a better chance of enduring if the president-elect can coax nations such as Germany, Japan and China to embrace reforms, said Mohamed El-Erian, Allianz SE’s chief economic adviser. “In order for this Trump rally to be sustained, it’s not just about implementing policies at home,” El-Erian said Tuesday in an interview on Bloomberg Television.

Tesla Gets a Jump on Google, Uber, Ford in Race to Autonomous

There was, in hindsight, a clear element of risk to Tesla Motors Inc.’s decision to install Autopilot hardware in every car coming off the production line since October 2014. It paid a price, with federal regulators probing the deadly crash of a Model S while in driver-assist mode and critics slamming Tesla for rolling the technology out too soon.

Flybe Names Ex-CityJet Head as New Chief to Lead Heathrow Push

Flybe Group Plc, Europe’s biggest regional airline, appointed Christine Ourmieres-Widener as its chief executive officer, succeeding Saad Hammad, who stood down in October after struggling to lift earnings. Ourmieres-Widener, an executive at Air France before she ran fellow regional operator CityJet Ltd. between 2010 and 2015, takes over Jan. 16, Flybe said in a statement Tuesday.

Oil Extends Gain as Industry Report Said to Show Supply Drop

Oil extended a gain in New York as an industry report was said to show U.S. crude stockpiles fell last week. February-delivery futures rose 30 cents after the American Petroleum Institute said late Tuesday that nationwide crude inventories sank 4.15 million barrels last week, according to a person familiar with the data.

Obama Said to Use 1953 Law to Restrict Offshore Oil Drilling

President Barack Obama is preparing to block the sale of new offshore drilling rights in most of the U.S. Arctic and parts of the Atlantic, a move that could indefinitely restrict oil production there, according to people familiar with the decision. Obama will invoke a provision in a 1953 law that gives him wide latitude to withdraw U.S. waters from future oil and gas leasing, said the people who spoke on condition of anonymity because the decision had not been announced.

Jefferies Profit Quadruples as Fixed Income, Equities Climb

Jefferies Group, the investment bank whose trading results often foreshadow performance at bigger Wall Street firms, said fourth-quarter profit quadrupled as revenue from trading stocks and bonds more than doubled. Net income jumped to $87.1 million in the three months ended Nov. 30, the New York-based company said Tuesday in a statement.

BFAM, Dymon Shine in Asia Hedge Funds’ Toughest Year Since 2011

That’s a credo that’s helped some of Asia’s top hedge funds this year as peers stumbled, with BFAM Partners, LIM Advisors and Serica Partners Asia surging in 2016 after snapping up or adding commodity-related bonds during a first-quarter selloff. Their performance stood out as the region’s hedge funds struggled with volatile markets in Japan and China, with offerings from Greenwoods Asset Management, Symphony Financial Partners and Tantallon Capital among those with losses.

Covey Park continues Haynesville roll up with Chesapeake asset deal

The Denham Capital Management LP-backed operator has been an active consolidator in the play in 2016, while the $465 million deal wraps up the seller’s $2 billion divestiture program. Chesapeake Energy Corp. said Tuesday, Dec. 20, it has reached an agreement to sell the second portion of the company’s acreage and producing properties in the Haynesville Shale in northern Louisiana to an affiliate of private equity-backed Covey Park Energy LLC for $465 million.

Watch Out for China Growth, European Elections and Reflation in 2017, Says Goldman Sachs

The investment bank lays out some of its key macro themes; providing reasons to be generally optimistic unless you are British. China’s economic growth and European elections will be potential flash points for global markets in 2017, while the negative effects of Brexit will become evermore apparent and investors should get used to hearing the term reflation, according to Goldman Sachs.

Is There Still Hope for Nike?

Shares of Nike have nosedived about 18% so far this year, making it the worst-performing component in the Dow Jones Industrial Average. Meanwhile, the stock has underperformed second-tier competitors such as Lululemon Athletica and Columbia Sportswear , which are up 31% and 25%, respectively, this year.

5 Big Mortgage Market Predictions For 2017

With the Federal Reserve raising interest rates last week, with more rate hikes to come in ’17, next year should be a whirlwind for the mortgage market. With chestnuts roasting by an open fire, Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen is nipping at the noses of mortgage industry professionals with one interest rate hike in the bank this year and two or three more likely on the way in 2017.

Ingersoll-Rand Can Continue to Run Hot

For investors looking for an industrial stock that can outperform the S&P 500, has a history of beating estimates and is expanding margins, I suggest you look at Ingersoll-Rand , Ingersoll-Rand has a history of beating estimates and raising guidance on real organic growth and margin expansion. Unlike GE, IR has beaten the S&P 500 Index in the one-, two-, five- and 10-year periods.

The Bulls Don’t Have Enough Juice for 20,000

With such intense focus on the 20,000 level of the Dow Jones Industrial Average, it is just a matter of time before it falls, but so far this morning the bulls don’t have quite enough juice. I’m looking for them to make another run at it before the day is over, but once the day is done it is likely to trigger some profit taking.

Recording surfaces of KLER’s last moments

Rochester’s second radio station, KLER-AM, was owned by Dr. Charles W. Mayo and his wife, Alice, and they hosted KLER parties at Mayowood, including this Christmas party above in the early 1950s. From left to right, the KLER staffers are Don Mason , Bob Bouscher , Wally Lindberg , Walt Bruzek , Bill Gary and Bob Fick .

EU watchdog probes Facebook over WhatsApp merger

The EU’s executive body on Tuesday gave Facebook until Jan. 31 to answer a “statement of objections” about merger information the social media giant gave the Commission two years ago. The Commission, the EU’s merger and anti-trust watchdog, is concerned that Facebook can match its users’ accounts with WhatsApp user accounts.

Walgreens, Rite Aid shed 865 stores to close $9.4B deal

Walgreens and Rite Aid will sell 865 stores to rival retailer Fred’s for $950 million, possibly removing the final roadblock preventing the tie up between the nation’s largest and third-largest drugstore chains. Wall Street certainly saw it that way, sending shares of Rite Aid up nearly 6 percent before the opening bell Tuesday.

Uber blames glitch for Philadelphia woman’s $28,639 charge

Ride-hailing giant Uber is blaming a computer glitch for overcharging a “handful” of customers, including one Philadelphia woman whose bank blocked an attempt to charge her more than $28,000 for a ride. Philly.com says that woman first said she got an email from Uber warning her that her financial information had been hacked.

Tread Carefully With Energy ETFs

As has been widely documented, the energy sector is the best-performing group in the S&P 500 this year and the Energy Select Sector SPDR is the best performer among the sector SPDR exchange traded funds. Obviously, crude’s resurgence plays a significant part in that rally.

REIT ETFs can Rally Again

As was widely expected, the Federal Reserve boosted interest rates last week for the first time this year. With the jobs market strong and other economic data points signaling a robust U.S. economy, the Fed is targeting three rate hikes for 2017, which some investors view as a negative for rate-sensitive asset classes.

China Box Office Flatlines in 2016

After expanding 48 percent in 2015, it is projected to grow just 4.5 percent this year – but the picture for Hollywood is slightly rosier. The year began with projections that China was on the verge of becoming the world’s largest movie market, but 2016 might end up being remembered as the year the country’s film sector fell back to earth.