(Bloomberg) — An alarming number of companies have warned that profits won’t meet expectations when they report in a month. The group, including PP Industries Inc. and Sherwin-Williams Co., are primarily materials producers that have struggled amid supply-chain disruptions. While just a small part of the S&P 500, their earnings have historically been the most … Read more
Companies that can’t fill their many openings are relying on existing workers to stay late, come in early and pick up extra shifts to keep operations running. That’s making the nation’s current labor shortage even more challenging to solve. Overtime means bigger paychecks. But it can also create higher stress and burnout. Employers and researchers … Read more
Natural-gas prices have surged, prompting worries about winter shortages and forecasts for the most expensive fuel since frackers flooded the market more than a decade ago. U.S. natural-gas futures ended Friday at $5.105 per million British thermal units. They were about half that six months ago and have leapt 17% this month.
(Bloomberg) — Iron ore fell below $100 a metric ton for the first time in 14 months as China’s moves to clean up its heavy-polluting industrial sector drive down demand for the steel. Futures prices sank to as low as $99.50 on the Singapore Exchange and wavered around $100 through the overnight trading session, which … Read more
Shares of Idacorp Inc. IDA, +0.89% rose 0.7% in afternoon trading Friday, after the Idaho-based utility raised its quarterly dividend by 5.6%, to 75 cents a share from 71 cents. The new dividend’s payable and record dates will be announced during the fourth quarter. Based on current stock prices, the new annual dividend rate of … Read more
Analyst ratings measure the expected performance of a stock during a given time period. Traders and investors should know analysts and brokerage firms often use ratings when they issue stock recommendations to stock traders. In general, analysts arrive at stock ratings after they research companies’ public financial statements, communicate with executives and customers and interact … Read more
If you’re paying up at the pump — you know why energy stocks are tops in the S&P 500 this year. But don’t worry, there’s still time to make money on the sector, analysts say. X S&P 500 energy companies, like Diamondback Energy (FANG), EOG Resources (EOG) and APA (APA) are all up huge this … Read more
A fourth stimulus check isn’t coming from the feds, but may be from your state Despite heated pleas for a fourth round of stimulus checks as the COVID delta variant rampages through the U.S., Washington has been cool to the idea of another direct payment. President Joe Biden and Congress’ Democratic leaders have moved on … Read more
(Bloomberg) — China Evergrande Group bondholders are about to find out if the property giant’s liquidity crisis is as dire as it appears. Interest payments on two Evergrande notes come due Thursday, a key test of whether the developer will continue meeting obligations to bondholders even as it falls behind on payments to banks, suppliers … Read more
December E-mini S&P 500 Index futures are trading lower late in the session on Friday, pressured by weakness in major technology shares. Uncertainty is a theme too and when there’s uncertainty investors tend to sell until they get some clarity or prices hit a value area. The big worries for investors at this time are … Read more