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BUSINESSFriday 26 February 2016
Wall Street posts solid gains on rising oil prices
KEN SWEET Trader Peter Tuchman works on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange. A late-day surge year, now we are looking
AP Business Writer pushed U.S. stocks sharply higher Thursday, propelled by a recovery in energy companies and at maybe one interest rate
NEW YORK (AP) — A late- bank stocks, which have been hit hard this year. hike,” Zirin said.
day surge pushed U.S. Orders to U.S. companies
stocks sharply higher Thurs- (AP Photo/Richard Drew) for long-lasting manufac-
day, propelled by a recov- tured goods rose in Janu-
ery in energy companies — largely tracked the price 88 cents, or 2.6 percent, to Bank of America, U.S. Ban- ary at the strongest pace
and bank stocks, which of oil. U.S. crude oil closed $35.29 a barrel. corp and Citigroup were in 10 months, the govern-
have been hit hard this up 92 cents, or nearly 3 “Oil and the stock market up more than 1 percent ment said Thursday. A key
year. percent, to $33.07 a bar- are going to keep moving each. category that tracks busi-
Investors were also en- rel while Brent crude, the in tandem like this until oil Bank stocks have been hit ness investment surged by
couraged by positive eco- global benchmark, rose prices stabilize,” said Jer- hard this year on expecta- the largest amount in 19
nomic data, including im- emy Zirin, chief equity strat- tions that the Federal Re- months. The bigger-than-
proved orders for long-last- egist at UBS Wealth Man- serve will now be reluctant expected gains could be a
ing goods that served as a agement. to raise interest rates, which sign of better days ahead
sign that businesses were Bank stocks got a reprieve boost bank profits, and that for the nation’s belea-
buying equipment and in- Thursday after several low oil prices will continue guered manufacturers.
vesting in their operations. weeks of downward pres- to cause banks to write off The biggest gainer in the
The Dow Jones industrial sure. The financials sector energy loans. S&P 500 Thursday was Sales-
average rose 212.30 points, was the biggest gainer in “The fears about the banks force.com, which jumped
or 1.3 percent, to close at the S&P 500. Morgan Stan- are entirely about profit- $6.90, or 11 percent, to
16,697.29. The Standard & ley rose 4 percent, Gold- ability. Investors were ex- $69.42 after the company
Poor’s 500 index rose 21.90 man Sachs rose 2 percent, pecting the Fed to raise issued an upbeat outlook
points, or 1.1 percent, to while the big retail banks rates three to four times this for the year. Investors had
close at 1,951.70 and the been worried about the
Nasdaq composite rose results of Salesforce after
39.60 points, or 0.9 percent, a competitor, Tableau, is-
to close at 4,582.20. sued a dismal outlook ear-
Stocks had been flat to lier this month that caused
slightly higher most of the its shares to drop nearly 50
day but added to their percent, dragging down its
gains in the last hour of competitors.
trading. The market — as Both U.S. and European
it has done for weeks now markets fared well de-
spite a sharp drop in Chi-
nese stocks overnight. The
Shanghai composite fell
6.4 percent on renewed
concerns about the coun-
try’s manufacturing sector
and market liquidity.
Bond prices rose, with the
yield on the 10-year U.S.
Treasury note falling to 1.71
percent from 1.75 percent
on Wednesday.
Sears 4Q loss widens after weak holidays
NEW YORK (AP) — Sears’ announced that a major charge related to the im-
fourth-quarter loss widened shareholder in the com- pairment of the Sears trade
despite deep cost cuts pany would take a seat on name is removed, the per-
and, after the struggling the board, which will be in- share loss would have been
retailer limped through the creased to 10 seats. $1.70 per share.
crucial holiday shopping One of those seats will Revenue declined to $7.3
season, it promised to tight- be occupied by Bruce billion from $8.1 billion.
en spending even more this Berkowitz, chief investment Sales at Kmart stores open
year. officer at Fairholme Capital at least a year dropped
Chairman and CEO Ed- Management LLC. 7.2 percent, while sales at
ward Lampert pointed to Fairholme owns a 26.3 per- Sears stores fell 6.9 percent.
a warm winter that drove cent stake in the Hoffman Both were hit with weak
down sales for seasonal Estates, Illinois, company, consumer electronics sales,
goods and brutal compe- according to the data though the company said
tition with other retailers, firm FactSet. For the pe- that that was actually an
almost all of whom were riod ended Jan. 30, Sears, improvement from the first
forced into clear inventory which also owns Kmart, lost three quarters of the year.
by marking down prices $580 million, or $5.44 per Sears said earlier this month
drastically. share, compared with a that it would accelerate
Shares rose 4 percent be- loss of $159 million, or $1.50 the shuttering of some
fore the opening bell Thurs- per share, a year earlier. stores following the chal-
day after the company If a one-time $180 million lenging holiday season.
