Wall Street stumbles into end of quarter; IBM's 'internet of things'; Starbucks kale smoothie
Stocks (^GSPC) stumbling into the last trading day of the first quarter. Investors taking some money off the table after yesterday's big gains, which saw the Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI) jump 1.5%.
Yahoo Finance Senior Columnist Michael Santoli says while our market has bounced around over the past three months, we've seen significant increases elsewhere.
"In the U.S. the bulls and bears basically fought to a stalemate-- it's basically flat for the first quarter," he points out. "The money is being made overseas, especially in local currencies."
Santoli doesn't find that surprising.
"The U.S. is giving back the outperformance it had in the prior year or two," he adds. "That kind of makes sense considering what's happening with both the currencies and central bank policies converging between the rest of the world and the U.S."
But even so, Santoli is calling the first quarter a win for Wall Street.
"I think you can declare a victory for the market being flat," he argues. "Earnings have been sliding, you do have those headwinds from the dollar and oil seems to be something that's detracting from corporate profits."
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Big Blue makes big internet move
Here’s a look at some of the stocks the Yahoo Finance team will be tracking for you today.
IBM (IBM) is investing $3 billion over the next four years to create an "Internet of Things” division that will gather and analyze real time data from smartphones, tablets and other devices to be used by businesses. Separately, IBM is teaming up with the owner of the Weather Channel. The partnership will allow companies to use weather forecasts to improve their business.
Charter Communications (CHTR) shares are sharply higher this morning. The cable provider is buying Bright House Networks for $10.4 billion. Bright House is the country's 6th-biggest cable operator with about 2 .5 million subscribers, many of those in Florida. Charter says the deal is contingent on federal government approval of the huge Comcast (CMCSA) acquisition of Time Warner Cable (TWC). Time Warner Cable currently negotiates carriage arrangements for Bright House.
Philips (PHG) shares are lower in early trading. The Dutch conglomerate is taking another major step in exiting the lighting business it has dominated for more than a century. It’s selling its 80% stake in its lighting components business to a group of investors led by GO Scale Capital for $2.8 billion. This comes as Philips gets set to spin off its main lighting unit into a separate public company sometime next year.
Conn's (CONN) shares are down in early trading. The furniture retailer said it’s exploring the sale or the refinancing of its loan portfolio as its credit financing business continued to struggle in the fourth quarter. The company reporting a big earnings per-share miss. Profits fell 44% from a year earlier. However, revenue topped forecasts, rising 18% percent from a year ago.
Movado (MOV) shares are higher before the bell. The luxury watchmaker raised its earnings outlook for the year after reporting earnings that blew past estimates in the holiday quarter as profits jumped 40%. However, revenue came in slightly below forecasts. The company also said it needs to raise prices to offset the impact of a strong dollar and slow retail growth.
Tesla continues to get boost from Musk tweet
Tesla (TSLA) shares are adding to their gains after yesterday's 3% pop. The stock jumping after CEO Elon Musk tweeted the company is launching a new product line, and it's not an electric car.. Musk says that the mystery product will be unveiled at the end of April.
Rapper Jay Z is stepping into the streaming wars. His high resolution music service, Tidal, is the first-ever artist-owned music streaming platform. Other famous backers of Tidal include Beyonce, Kanye West and Madonna.
And Starbucks (SBUX) is teaming up with Dannon yogurt owner, Danone, to launch a line of smoothies. The drinks will be customizable with items such as kale and protein powder. This move comes as Starbucks aims to double its food sales.
