April 15, 2016 Financial News - Business News - Stock Exchange - Market News

April 15, 2016 Financial News - Business News - Stock Exchange - NYSE - Market News CLICK HERE➡ ➡ http://FinancialBuzz.com Business News - Financial News - Stock News -- New York Stock Exchange -- Market News 2016 Business News - Financial News - Stock Exchange -- Wall Street -- Market News - New York Stock Exchange 2016 There wasn’t much economic news Monday, however, U.S. crude oil futures increased by 1.6%, to $40.36 a barrel, and the Japanese yen continued strengthening against the U.S. dollar. On Tuesday, import prices for March rose .2% compared to the prior month’s .3% decline. Export prices remained unchanged compared to the prior month’s .4% decline. U.S. crude hit a high for the year, closing up 4.5% to $42.17 a barrel, on reports that Saudi Arabia and Russia reached agreement on an oil production freeze. The International Monetary Fund downgraded its world economic growth forecast for this year to 3.2%, compared to its 4.4% estimate last July. The Dow Industrials closed up 164 points on the strength of oil. On Wednesday, retails sales were down a disappointing .3% in March, in addition to the prior month’s .1% decline. The producer price index for March declined .1% on top of the prior month’s .2% decline and the EIA petroleum status report for the week ending April 8th rose 6.6 million barrels. This set a new record for inventory reaching 536 million barrels. The Fed’s Beige Book was released, which said the U.S. economy was continuing to expand and despite signs of higher wages, inflation remains contained. The Dow Industrials closed up 187 points. On Thursday, the consumer price index for March rose .1%, compared to the prior month’s .2% decline, and jobless claims for the week ending April 9th fell a sharp 13,000 to 253,000. On Friday industrial production for March fell .6%, on top of the prior month’s .6% drop. Markets opened slightly lower. Now let’s take a look at some stocks. JPMorgan Chase (NYSE: JPM) shares jumped 2% Wednesday after the investment bank surpassed expectations when reporting quarterly earnings. The bank experienced a decrease in profits of 6.7% due to costs for covering loans to struggling shale oil companies. JPMorgan’s revenue fell 3% to $24 billion, however, it beat the average estimate of $23.4 billion. Bank of America (NYSE: BAC), also reported earnings this week, revealing an 18% drop in quarterly profit. Concerns regarding the global economic slowdown and uncertainty over U.S. interest rate increases decreased B of A’s profits from stock and bond trading. The bank reported revenues of $20.9 billion, compared to $21.4 billion from the same period last year. Seagate Technology (NASDAQ: STX) announced preliminary financial information for its third quarter ending on April 1. Seagate adjusted its previous guidance, and now expects to report revenue of $2.6 billion, lower than their previous forecast of $2.7 billion. Shares of the technology company dropped more than 18% after the announcement on Thursday. Alibaba Group (NYSE: BABA) announced on Tuesday that it will buy a controlling stake in Lazada, a Southeast Asian e-commerce company created by Rocket Internet. The deal is valued at $1 billion, one of Alibaba’s largest acquisitions to date. Lazada operates like an online retailer, similar to Amazon, in Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam and the Philippines. The retailer has raised more than $700 million in funding since launching in 2011. © 2011 Financial Buzz. All rights reserved. No portion of FinancialBuzz.com may be duplicated, redistributed or manipulated in any form without our consent, violators will be prosecuted to the full extent of the law.