Market News: Walt Disney, Gilead Sciences, Chipotle Mexican Grill

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The stock markets in the United States fluctuated and eventually ended the trading session lower due the slump of oil prices today. The equities of energy and oil companies recorded declines.

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In a telephone interview with Bloomberg, Thomas Garcia, head of equity trading at Thornburg Investment Management commented, “When energy goes, the market goes. Oil’s down today for the first time in a little while, and it seems like people either love oil stocks or hate them, and today they hate them.”

Yesterday, energy stocks rallied driven by the stabilization of crude oil prices. Today, the WTI crude oil fell 7.9% to $48.66 per share, the largest one-day drop since November 28, last year. The Brent crude oil declined 5.4% to $54.76 per barrel.

The oil prices declined after the U.S. Energy Information Administration reported the crude stockpile was 413.06 million barrels, an increase of 6.3 million barrels last week.  The country’s crude stockpile was the highest level since 1982 when the agency started its records.

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Commenting on the U.S. crude inventory, Sal Umek of the Energy Management Institute told CNBC, “Just looking at the overall picture, there is no shortage of oil anywhere. It is bearish straight across the board.”

U.S. Markets

  • Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) – 17,673.92 (-0.23%)
  • S&P 500- 2,041.43 (-0.43%)
  • NASDAQ- 4,716.70 (-0.23%)
  • Russell 2000- 1,190.46 (-0.55%)

European Markets

  • EURO STOXX 50 Price EUR- 3,415.53 (+1.31%)
  • FTSE 100 Index- 6,860.02 (-0.17%)
  • Deutsche Borse AG German Stock Index DAX- 10,911.32 (+0.19%)

Asia-Pacific Markets

  • Nikkei 225- 17,678.74 (+1.98%)
  • Hong Kong Hang Seng Index- 24,679.76 (+0.51%)
  • Shanghai Shenzhen CSI 300 Index- 3,401.77 (-1.04%)

Stocks in Focus

Walt Disney is one of the best-performers on the S&P 500 as the world’s largest entertainment company reached a new all-time high at $101.94 per share.  The stock closed $101.78 per share, up by nearly 8% today.

The shares of Gilead Sciences dropped more than 8% to $98.43 per share despite reporting strong quarterly earnings. The company said its revenue this year will be negatively impacted by discounts for its hepatitis C drugs—Sovaldi and Harvoni.  Express Scripts Holding Company excluded Sovaldi and Harvoni from its National Preferred Formulary on January 1st.

Chipotle Mexican Grill declined almost 7% to $676 per share. Its same store sales were below the expectations of Wall Street analysts. The company plans to increase the prices of steak and barbacoa products.

 

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