Plus, the CDC identified a second case of the coronavirus in the U.S., Wells Fargo’s former CEO was barred from working at a bank again, and American Express also beat Wall Street’s expectations in its Q4 report.
Stocks turned negative Friday morning with the Dow slipping by 13 points after having gains more than 100 in earlier trading. The S&P 500 traded 0.2% lower after gaining 0.2%, while the Nasdaq traded around the flatline.
The Centers for Disease Control said that they have diagnosed a second case of the Chinese coronavirus in a Chicago resident who traveled to Wuhan and are currently monitoring 63 other possible cases across 22 states. “CDC believes the immediate risk to the U.S. public is low at this time, but the situation is evolving rapidly,” said Dr. Nancy Messonnier, the director of the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases. “We have our best people working on this problem.” The coronavirus has now killed at least 26 people and has infected more than 900 worldwide. China instituted travel bans for at least 10 cities, including Wuhan where the virus first appeared on December 31, in an effort to quarantine an area of around 40 million people.
House impeachment managers are expected to say this afternoon that President Donald Trump obstructed Congress’ investigation into his dealings with Ukraine in their last day of arguments in the Senate impeachment trial. The House managers will push to convince at least four Senate republicans to vote with Democrats to subpoena witnesses and documents before Trump’s lawyers take to the Senate floor on Saturday to present their defense. Once the defense team has wrapped its arguments, senators will have as many as 16 hours to ask questions of both sides before a vote is taken on whether to call witnesses.
The U.S. government announced late yesterday that former Wells Fargo CEO John Stumpf has been banned from ever working at a bank again and will be required to pay $17.5 million for a scandal in which millions of fake accounts were set up in order to meet sales quotas. “The actions announced by the OCC today reinforce the agency’s expectations that management and employees of national banks and federal savings associations provide fair access to financial services, treat customers fairly, and comply with applicable laws and regulations,” said Joseph Otting, Comptroller of the Currency. But despite the $17.5 million fine, Stumpf’s nest egg is in fine shape. Even after subtracting the clawback and forfeitures, Stumpf left Wells Fargo with more than $80 million, including more than $60 million in salary and bonuses from his years at the bank and a pension worth $22.7 million.
Intel shares are up more than 8% this morning after the chipmaker posted an earnings beat for the quarter ended December. Intel reported adjusted Q4 earnings of $1.52 per share on revenue of $20.2 billion, beating Wall Street expectations for earnings per share of $1.25 on revenue of $19.2 billion. For 2020, the chip cant also issued guidance above analysts’ estimates, forecasting sales of $73.5 billion and adjusted earnings per share of $5. “In 2019, we gained share in an expanded addressable market that demands more performance to process, move, and store data,” said Intel CEO Bob Swan in the company’s earnings release.
American Express shares are also up this morning after its Q4 results beat expectations as card fee revenues grew more than anticipated. American Express reported earnings per share of $2.03 on revenue of $11.365, compared to analysts’ expectations for earnings per share of $2.01 on revenue of $11.36 billion. “These results demonstrate the success of our strategy to generate sustainable, profitable growth across the enterprise over the long term,” said CEO Stephen Squeri in a statement, noting that the company added 11.5 million new proprietary cards in 2019, helping to drive card fee revenue growth of 17%. And Atlassian shares have jumped more than 8% this morning after it reported better-than-expected results for its fiscal second quarter. The project management and workflow software provider reported revenue of $408.7 million, up 37% over the year prior period. “We had a strong quarter, growing revenue 37% year-over-year and generating record profitability and free cash flow,” said Co-CEO Scott Farquhar in a statement. “Subscription revenue grew 50% year-over-year underscoring the progress we continue to make in our cloud-first strategy.”
Stocks We’re Watching
Trans World Entertainment Corp (NASDAQ: TWMC): Trans World Entertainment shares surged as much as 320% yesterday following the company’s announcement that it has entered into an agreement with Sunrise Records in Canada and HMV Records in the United Kingdom to sell its Record Town Inc subsidiary for $10 million in cash. The deal is expected to close in the first quarter of 2020 and includes “the retail, music, film, video and popular business constituting the For Your Entertainment (“FYE”) segment of” Trans World’s business.