Dow fell 65, decliners over advancers 5-2 & NAZ was off 5. The MLP index was fractionally lower to the 255s & the REIT index was off 1+ to the 369s. Junk bond funds fluctuated & Treasuries went higher. Oil climbed higher in the 59s (more below) & gold slid back 3 to 1302.
AMJ (Alerian MLP Index tracking fund)
Stocks slipped as a decline in FedEx (FDX) tempered sentiment while investors braced themselves for a key Federal Reserve announcement. The Dow declined 113. The S&P 500 dipped 0.3% as the health care sector lagged. NAZ fell 0.2%. The central bank is widely expected to keep rates steady later in the session, with investors monitoring a decision on the Fed's rate projections for the next few years. Stocks are up more than 12% this year in large part because the Fed said in Jan it would be "patient" in raising rates this year. However, investors could be setting itself up for a letdown if the Fed does not indicate there will be no rate hikes this year as investors have priced in extremely favorable monetary policy conditions. Meanwhile, renewed uncertainty around US-China trade negotiations also kept investor sentiment in check.
Dow falls 100 points as FedEx slides, Wall Street awaits Fed decision
club.ino.com/trend/analysis/stock/GOOG?a_aid=CD3289&a_bid=6ae5b6f7
Shares of General Mills (GIS) jumped after the food company's earnings report showed that cost-cutting initiatives & price hikes have paid off for its profits. "We had a strong third quarter, with positive organic sales growth and significant operating margin expansion," CEO Jeff Harmening said. EPS rose to 83¢, on an adjusted basis, during fiscal Q3, topping the 69¢ expected. GIS also reported revenue in line with estimates of $4.2B. EPS dropped to 74¢, down from $1.62 a year earlier. The company reported a one-time tax benefit of $504M due to US tax reform during last year's Q3. GIS boosted its top & bottom lines by raising prices & switching its products in all of its markets. It otherwise saw sales volume decline in North America, Europe & Australia. A broader cost-cutting plan announced last year, which includes cutting 625 jobs by this spring, also helped profits, it said. GIS raised its outlook for earnings growth flat to up 1%. It previously estimated a range of flat to down 3% due to accounting changes from its acquisition of pet food company Blue Buffalo. Analysts were expecting EPS to decline 1.2%. Organic sales grew 1%, beating estimate of 0.6%. The company also narrowed its fiscal 2019 net sales & organic sales growth to the lower end of its previous outlook range. It now expects net sales growth to be closer to 9% than 10 percent & organic net sales growth closer to flat than 1%. The stock gained 1.68 (4%).
If you would like to learn more about GIS, click on this link:
club.ino.com/trend/analysis/stock/GIS?a_aid=CD3289&a_bid=6ae5b6f7
General Mills stock jumps after earnings beat and raised outlook
Oil prices turn higher as US crude stockpiles plunge by 9.6 million barrels
Stocks are awaiting developments later today. Now much else to say currently.
Dow Jones Industrials
AMJ (Alerian MLP Index tracking fund)
| CL=F | Crude Oil | 58.95 | -0.08 | -0.1% |
| GC=F | Gold | 1,306.00 | -0.50 | -0.0% |
Stocks slipped as a decline in FedEx (FDX) tempered sentiment while investors braced themselves for a key Federal Reserve announcement. The Dow declined 113. The S&P 500 dipped 0.3% as the health care sector lagged. NAZ fell 0.2%. The central bank is widely expected to keep rates steady later in the session, with investors monitoring a decision on the Fed's rate projections for the next few years. Stocks are up more than 12% this year in large part because the Fed said in Jan it would be "patient" in raising rates this year. However, investors could be setting itself up for a letdown if the Fed does not indicate there will be no rate hikes this year as investors have priced in extremely favorable monetary policy conditions. Meanwhile, renewed uncertainty around US-China trade negotiations also kept investor sentiment in check.
Dow falls 100 points as FedEx slides, Wall Street awaits Fed decision
EU regulators fined Google (GOOG) $1.7B for abusing its market dominance by preventing its rivals
from placing online search advertisers. The fine raises to nearly $1B the amount the EU has fined the search engine. The
fine marks the 3rd time the European Commission, the EU's
administrative arm, has hit the search engine giant with an antitrust
penalty in 2 years; in Jul, regulators fined GOOG a record $5B for pushing its Android apps on smartphone customers, exceeding the
previous year's record fine of close to $2.7B for hindering
rivals of shopping comparison websites. The EU's top antitrust watchdog, Margrethe Vestager,
said GOOG cemented itself as a powerhouse in the online search
industry -- then proceeded to shield itself from competition by imposing
restrictive contracts with 3rd-party websites that blocked other
companies from placing their search adverts on those websites in
2006-2016. “This is illegal under EU antitrust rules,” she added. In
response, Kent Walker, GOOG senior VP for global
affairs, said the company will be making "further updates" to its
products in Europe. "We’ve always agreed that
healthy, thriving markets are in everyone’s interest," he said. "We've
already made a wide range of changes to our products to address the
Commission's concerns. Over the next few months, we’ll be making further
updates to give more visibility to rivals in Europe.” GOOG stock went up 7 to 1206.
If you would like to learn more about GOOG, click on this link:club.ino.com/trend/analysis/stock/GOOG?a_aid=CD3289&a_bid=6ae5b6f7
EU hits Google with $1.7B fine for blocking rival ads
Shares of General Mills (GIS) jumped after the food company's earnings report showed that cost-cutting initiatives & price hikes have paid off for its profits. "We had a strong third quarter, with positive organic sales growth and significant operating margin expansion," CEO Jeff Harmening said. EPS rose to 83¢, on an adjusted basis, during fiscal Q3, topping the 69¢ expected. GIS also reported revenue in line with estimates of $4.2B. EPS dropped to 74¢, down from $1.62 a year earlier. The company reported a one-time tax benefit of $504M due to US tax reform during last year's Q3. GIS boosted its top & bottom lines by raising prices & switching its products in all of its markets. It otherwise saw sales volume decline in North America, Europe & Australia. A broader cost-cutting plan announced last year, which includes cutting 625 jobs by this spring, also helped profits, it said. GIS raised its outlook for earnings growth flat to up 1%. It previously estimated a range of flat to down 3% due to accounting changes from its acquisition of pet food company Blue Buffalo. Analysts were expecting EPS to decline 1.2%. Organic sales grew 1%, beating estimate of 0.6%. The company also narrowed its fiscal 2019 net sales & organic sales growth to the lower end of its previous outlook range. It now expects net sales growth to be closer to 9% than 10 percent & organic net sales growth closer to flat than 1%. The stock gained 1.68 (4%).
If you would like to learn more about GIS, click on this link:
club.ino.com/trend/analysis/stock/GIS?a_aid=CD3289&a_bid=6ae5b6f7
General Mills stock jumps after earnings beat and raised outlook
Oil prices turned higher after US
gov data showed the nation's stockpiles of crude oil & refined
fuels plunged last week. Crude inventories fell 9.6M barrels last week, the Energy Information
Administration (EIA) said, compared with expectations for an
increase of 309K barrels. The draw was the largest since Jul 2018. Gasoline stocks fell 4.6M barrels, compared with expectations
for a 2.4M-barrel drop. Distillate stockpiles, which include
diesel and heating oil, fell 4.1M barrels, versus expectations
for a 1.1M-barrel drop. Intl Brent crude oil futures were up 27¢ at $67.88 a barrel. Brent yesterday touched its highest since Nov 16 at $68.20 a barrel. US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures rose 22¢ to $59.25 per barrel. Crude futures have drawn support this week from ongoing supply cuts
led by producer club OPEC & US sanctions against Iran & Venezuela.
However, analysts said concerns over economic growth are weighing on
the market & capping gains. Crude prices have risen
by almost 1/3 this year, pushed up by a move led by OPEC to withhold
around 1.2M barrels per day (bpd) of supply as well as by US
sanctions against oil exporters Iran & Venezuela.
Oil prices turn higher as US crude stockpiles plunge by 9.6 million barrels
Stocks are awaiting developments later today. Now much else to say currently.
Dow Jones Industrials
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