Page 24 - ARUBA TODAY

Thursday 29 June 2017 BUSINESS
A24

Blue Apron slices
US stocks notch biggest gains in two months share price hinting

By ALEX VEIGA at tough market
AP Business Writer NEW YORK (AP) — Meal-
The U.S. stock market kit delivery company Blue
notched its biggest gain in Apron on Wednesday
two months Wednesday, slashed the price it expects
bouncing back from losses to sell its shares in an initial
a day earlier. public offering, a sign that
Banks and other financial it may be having trouble
companies led the rally attracting investors.
as investors bet on inter- The price chop for Blue
est rates climbing further. Apron’s IPO comes as
Banks can make more competition to deliver gro-
money on lending when ceries heats up. Blue Apron
rates move higher. already has many meal kit
Technology companies competitors, including Hel-
were among the big gain- loFresh and Plated, which
ers, recouping some of ship boxes to customer’s
their recent losses. Energy doorsteps with all the
stocks also rose as the raw ingredients needed
price of crude oil closed to make home-cooked
higher for the fifth straight meals. E-commerce gi-
day. Utilities and real es- ant Amazon.com Inc. is
tate companies were the expected to shakeup the
only laggards. industry after announc-
“Across the board, sec- Trader Michael Milano works on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange. The U.S. stock market ing plans to buy organic
tor strength is very, very notched its biggest gain in two months Wednesday, bouncing back from losses a day earlier. grocer Whole Foods ear-
strong,” said Marc Chaikin, (AP Photo/Richard Drew) lier this month. And Ama-
CEO of Chaikin Analytics. zon already sells meal kits
“Whoever wanted to sell cent late Tuesday. “Global rates are going also helped lift the market. in some cities with recipes
into the holiday weekend The market rebounded to move higher and that, Staples climbed 8.5 per- created by media mogul
basically did it yesterday from Tuesday’s technol- of course, helps financials cent after the Wall Street and TV cook Martha Stew-
and we probably have a ogy-led sell-off. The ma- across the board,” Gaffney Journal reported that the art. Blue Apron said that it
positive bias going into the jor indexes moved higher said. office supplies retailer has now expects its IPO to be
four-day weekend.” as trading got underway Bank of America added agreed to be acquired by between $10 and $11 per
The Standard & Poor’s 500 Wednesday and carried 61 cents, or 2.6 percent, private equity firm Syca- share, down from its fore-
index gained 21.31 points, the momentum the rest of to $23.88, while Prudential more Partners. The stock cast a week ago between
or 0.9 percent, to 2,440.69. the day. Financial rose $2.66, or 2.5 was the biggest gainer in $15 and $17. The New York
That’s the index’s big- “These equity markets are percent, to $107.26. Wells the S&P 500 index, rising 78 company still expects to
gest single-day gain since perhaps in more of a relief Fargo gained $1.17, or 2.2 cents to $9.94. sell 30 million shares, raising
April 24. The Dow Jones rally, with investors coming percent, to $54.33. Spectranetics surged 26.2 as much as $330 million in its
industrial average added back in after being away Investors also bid up shares percent after Dutch elec- IPO under the new range.
143.95 points, or 0.7 per- a bit here,” said Chris Gaff- in companies that reported tronics and health care That’s down from the $510
cent, to 21,454.61. The Nas- ney, president of World improved quarterly results. technology company Phil- million it would have raised
daq composite rose 87.79 Markets at EverBank. “It’s is Homebuilder KB Home ips said it agreed to buy at the high end of its pre-
points, or 1.4 percent, to the end of the quarter, so climbed $1.24, or 5.4 per- the medical device com- vious IPO range. Concerns
6,234.41. we’ll probably see more cent, to $24.06, while wire- pany for $38.50 a share, or about the Amazon and
Smaller companies fared volatility going into the less communications com- $2.2 billion. Spectranetics Whole Foods deal are part
better than the rest of the end.” pany CalAmp gained gained $7.95 to $38.35. of the reason for the cut,
market. The Russell 2000 Traders bid up shares in fi- $1.19, or 6.2 percent, to FedEx shares temporarily said Kathleen Smith of Re-
index of small-company nancial sector companies $20.44. General Mills, the halted trading before the naissance Capital, which
stocks picked up 21.75 amid heightened expec- maker of Cheerios cereal, package delivery giant dis- manages IPO exchange-
points, or 1.6 percent, to tations that interest rates Yoplait yogurt and other closed that an information traded funds. But investors
1,425.27. could be headed higher. packaged foods, added system virus significantly af- may also be spooked by
Bond prices fell. The 10- Rising rates let banks make 90 cents, or 1.6 percent, to fected the global opera- the poor performance of
year Treasury yield rose to bigger profits on mortgag- $56.42. tions of its TNT Express sub- tech companies that re-
2.22 percent from 2.21 per- es and other types of loans. News of corporate deals sidiary. q cently went public. Since
US pending home sales slip for 3rd straight month the beginning of the year,
the average IPO priced
closer to the low-end of its
By JOSH BOAK sales index fell 0.8 percent cent from a year ago to stronger than last year. expected range, she said
AP Economics Writer in May to 108.5. That’s $252,800. “Today’s reading signals a “IPO investors are cau-
WASHINGTON (AP) — down from 109.4 in April Pending sales contracts small dip in June existing tious,” Smith said.
Americans signed fewer and 111.3 in March. The in- are a barometer of future home sales, but they don’t Blue Apron, which was
contracts to buy homes dex has slipped 1.7 percent purchases. A sale is typi- change the big picture,” founded five years ago,
in May, the third straight over the past 12 months. cally completed a month said Ian Shepherdson, chief has never made a profit.
monthly decline and evi- Would-be buyers are fac- or two after a contract is economist at Pantheon But its revenue skyrocketed
dence that a shortage of ing higher prices and fewer signed. The steady decline Macroeconomics. to $795.4 million last year,
homes for sale has sup- options. Sales listings have suggests that homes sales The measure of signed more than double its level
pressed home-buying. plunged 8.4 percent over growth is increasingly lim- contracts in May fell in the in 2015. The company said
The National Association the past 12 months to 1.96 ited, though demand and Northeast, South and West. it had more than 1 million
of Realtors said Wednes- million. The median sales mortgage applications in- It remained unchanged in customers at the end of
day that its pending home price in May rose 5.8 per- dicate that sales should be the Midwest.q March.q