Shares of Papa John’s (PZZA) fell about 4% on Thursday. The company’s founder John Schnatter has been selling off shares of the struggling company.
Over the past week, Schnatter has sold roughly 300,000 Papa John’s shares, according to Securities and Exchange Commission filings. That’s worth about $16 million. He still retains about nine million shares of the company, and remains the largest shareholder.
Schnatter stepped down as CEO soon after he blamed declining pizza sales on NFL protests in fall 2017. He resigned as chairman the following summer after news broke that he had used the N-word on a conference call.
The company has struggled to repair its reputation over the past year and a half, and has suffered six straight quarters of sales declines. Schnatter and Papa John’s leadership exchanged vicious barbs for months, but reached a settlement earlier this year.
It’s almost like Monday never happened.
All three major indexes have largely recovered from Monday’s sharp selloff, which sent the Dow plunging 617 points.
While trade war concerns continue to linger, Wall Street was driven higher by upbeat earnings reports. Walmart (WMT) reported strong sales growth, while Cisco (CSCO) soared 7% on a big earnings beat and strong revenue forecast.
Solid economic reports on manufacturing activity, housing starts and jobless claims also helped.
US oil prices rose 1.4% to $62.87 a barrel.
The broader market is enjoying a solid Thursday, and risky tech stocks in particular were soaring.
But it’s worth noting that the shares of some sleepy food, beverage and household goods makers were rising too. In fact, several supermarket staples hit all-time highs.
It’s a sign that investors are also craving the dependability of steady sales and earnings growth and solid dividends at a time when there are still jitters about US-China trade talks.
Here are some of the blue chip brand name firms that notched new records. Now I’m hankering for some Oreos and coffee!
These weren’t the only well-known stocks reaching new peaks either. Procter & Gamble, PayPal, AmEx, Aflac and Costco did too. Ditto for Planet Fitness – which is where you might need to go if you enjoy too many Mountain Dews, Big Macs and chocolate bars!
The Chinese yuan has fallen to its weakest level since November 2018 against the US dollar.
The yuan is traded both in Beijing and in the offshore market, in which it moves more freely.
Amid the trade war between the United States and China, analysts have kept a close eye on the yuan. A weaker local currency would help to offset US-imposed tariffs. Chinese officials have consistently said that they wouldn’t use the yuan as a tool in the trade spat. Market experts have agreed for the most part, saying last year’s weakness in the currency was due to market forces and a selloff across emerging market currencies.
Nevertheless, today’s moves seem worth noting.
One dollar currently buys about 6.9265 yuan, edging closer to 7.000, which is a key level investors are watching. This year, the offshore yuan has slipped 0.7%, but the decline has accelerated this month, when it’s fallen 2.8%, according to Refinitiv.
Canadian marijuana stock Aurora Cannabis (ACB) rose again Thursday following its latest earnings a day earlier. The stock is now up nearly 80% this year. I spoke with Aurora’s chief corporate officer Cam Battley about how the company hopes to soon be profitable, competition, and what it’s like to work with legendary investor Nelson Peltz. Here’s a tweetstorm summary of the interview.
At midday, stocks are solidly in the green. The Dow was up as much as 300 points.
Its the third day in a row that stocks are climbing, helped by the recovery rally that started yesterday after the White House said it would delay planned tariffs on auto imports that would particularly hit the European Union and Japan.
Technology and non-cyclical consumer stocks are registering the biggest gains in the Dow, with Cisco (CSCO), Walmart (WMT) and Microsoft (MSFT) leading the best performers.
3M (MMM) is the only Dow stock in the red.
In the S&P 500, the telecommunications, healthcare and technology sectors are doing best.
Walmart (WMT), America’s largest retailer, said Thursday it will raise prices on some products as a result of the Trump administration’s tariffs on Chinese goods.
“We’re going to continue to do everything we can to keep prices low. That’s who we are. However, increased tariffs will lead to increased prices, we believe, for our customers.” Walmart chief financial officer Brett Biggs told reporters on a call after the retailer reported earnings for the first quarter of 2019.
Biggs did not say which items will become more expensive at Walmart. He noted, however, that Walmart’s merchant teams have been developing strategies to mitigate cost increases and working with its suppliers to manage prices.
Read the full story about how the trade war could impact prices here.
About an hour into the trading day, the Dow is up more than 200 points, or 0.8%.
The S&P 500 is up 1% and the Nasdaq, which was the laggard at the open, climbed 1.1%.
Only three Dow stocks are in negative territory: Apple (AAPL), 3M (MMM) and Chevron (CVX). Cisco (CSCO) and Walmart (WMT) are the strongest gainers in the index.
Dillard’s (DDS) stock is down nearly 12% in early trading after a weak earnings report:
US stocks opened higher on Thursday, adding to their previous gains. Stocks are extending their gains from a relief rally that began yesterday on the news that the White House would delay tariffs on auto imports.
Shares of Walmart (WMT) rose 3.6% at the open. The retailer revealed a mixed first quarter in its results before the bell.
Goldman Sachs (GS) stock inched up 0.5% after the company announced it would acquire wealth management firm United Capital.
Bitcoin is back near $8,000 thanks to a 30% spike in just the past five days. But bitcoin is actually a slacker in the crazy world of cryptocurrencies.
According to figures from Coinbase, the price of several other smaller cryptocurrencies have surged even more than bitcoin (XBT) lately. Zcash and EOS have gained nearly 35%. XRP has shot up about 40%. Ethereum has soared almost 50%. And Stellar Lumens has skyrocketed around 60%.
The stunning surge in cryptocurencies comes at a time when investors are worried about US-China trade tensions hurting the stock market. Bitcoin and its fellow digital currencies may, strangely enough, now be viewed as safe havens since they aren’t backed by governments.
Also helping? Big investment firms like Fidelity, TD Ameritrade and even the NYSE, are also getting more involved in crypto trading.
Stocks could climb back to fresh record highs, despite the recent dramatic global selloff over the trade war with China.
Even though the S&P 500 recorded its worst one-day drop since January on Monday, it’s still only off 3.2% from the record high it reached on April 30. And that’s despite the trade tensions with China, renewed fears over global growth, as well as ongoing concerns over Brexit, Italian politics and equity valuations, said Fawad Razaqzada, technical analyst at Forex.com.
Futures are pointing to a higher open today.
Warren Buffett revealed how much his stake in Amazon (AMZN) is worth: more than $900 million.
In an interview earlier this month, Buffett mentioned that one of Berkshire Hathaway’s (BRKA) investment managers had taken a stake in Amazon, though he did not disclose the amount.
In a filing late Wednesday, Berkshire revealed the stake: 483,300 shares, worth $904 million based on Wednesday’s closing price.
The Atlanta Federal Reserve downgraded its GDP growth forecast for the second quarter to an annualized rate of just 1.1% yesterday after a series of weaker-than-expected economic data.
Just last week, the same GDPNow model estimated 1.6% of economic growth between April and July.
On Wednesday, both retail sales and industrial production for April came in lower than expected. According to the Atlanta Fed, second quarter consumer spending growth is anticipated at 3%, rather than 3.2%.
Walmart (WMT) just had a mixed first quarter earnings report, per our Paul R. La Monica:
Online sales rose, but…
Earnings also show the US shopper is healthy:
The European Union has fined five banks, Barclays (BCS), RBS (RBS), Citigroup (C), JPMorgan (JPM) and MUFG (MUFG), $1.2 billion for participating in a foreign exchange trading cartel.
The EU Competition Commission said the banks took part in two cartels for 11 currencies, including the Euro, The British Pound, the US Dollar and the Yen.
The investigation found that individual traders exchanged sensitive information and trading plans through online professional chatrooms.
President Donald Trump on Wednesday signed an executive order barring US companies from using telecoms gear from sources the administration deems a national security threat.
The company relies on US suppliers such as:
Intel and Qualcomm shares are up slightly in premarket trading.
The United States is already locked in a trade war with China. Both sides are still negotiating, but new rounds of tit-for-tat tariffs in the past week have made markets jittery.
Here’s what’s happening in global markets:
🌏Asia:
🌍Europe:
🌎US:
