Chipotle Won't Release Financial Forecasts So Investors Sell
Chipotle Mexican Grill (CMG) shares fell nearly 8% Thursday afternoon after the company provided scant details on its future earnings in spite of its strong earnings beat.
The company did announce that it plans to spend up to $135 million on initiatives to win back customers it has lost since a series of health scares rocked the company.
"We are watching sales and transactions every day and we look at it by region and by day part. And what we continue to see is good performance in all the day parts," CEO Brian Niccol said.
H&M Says It Has An Unsold Clothes Stockpile of $4 Billion
Swedish fashion retailer H&M says that it has an unsold inventory backlog worth 36 billion Swedish kronor, or $4 billion, a 13% increase from the previous year.
The unsold inventory was partially responsible for a 28% decline in profits in the first half of the year.
"The first half of the year has been somewhat more challenging than we initially thought, but we believe that there is a gradual improvement and that we will see a stronger second half," CEO Karl-Johan Persson said Thursday.
Jury Orders DaVita to Pay $383.5 Million in Wrongful Death Suit
A judge ordered dialysis giant DaVita (DVA) to pay $385.3 million in wrongful death lawsuits brought by the families of three patients who died of cardiac arrest after receiving treatment at clinics.
Each of the three plaintiffs was awarded $125 million in punitive damages along with compensatory damages between $1.5 million and $5 million.
DaVita shares were down 1.6% to $69.72 Thursday afternoon.
Amazon Steals Walgreens' Thunder Following Earnings Beat
Shares of Walgreens (WBA) were down 10% Thursday after Amazon (AMZN) announced that it was purchasing medication delivery company PillPack for an undisclosed amount.
The news for Walgreens has been nothing but good Thursday, but the pressure from Amazon is scaring away the bulls.
Walgreens beat analysts' quarterly bottom-line expectations and announced a $10 billion share buyback plan. Walgreens decline is weighing on the Dow a week after the company was added to the blue-chip index.
Equifax Exec in Hot Water Over Insider Trading Allegations
Former Equifax (EFX) software development manager Sudhakar Reddy Bonthu, has been charged with insider trading by federal prosecutors. He is scheduled for arraignment Thursday in Atlanta.
Prosecutors said that the insider trading Bonthu engaged in was related to the data breach last year that exposed the records of 143 million people, according to the Federal Trade Commission.
Bonthu was fired in March after he refused to cooperate with an internal investigation conducted by the company into whether he violated the company's insider trading policy.
Salesforce is Sticking With U.S. Customs
Salesforce (CRM) CEO Marc Benioff penned a memo to dissatisfied employees who want the company to cut ties with U.S. Customs and Border Protection, saying that while he disagrees with the government agency's policy of separating families the company will not stop doing business with the agency.
Bloomberg reported that employees at the company penned a letter saying that the company is "complicit in the inhumane treatment of vulnerable people."
Benioff denied this in his letter.
"I'm opposed to separating children from their families at the border. It is immoral," Benioff wrote Wednesday in a memo to Salesforce employees obtained by Bloomberg News. "I have personally financially supported legal groups helping families at the border. I also wrote to the White House to encourage them to end this horrible situation."
Premarket
U.S. futures were climbing ahead of the market open Thursday as markets look to snap out of a two-session losing streak as U.S./China trade relations continue to deteriorate.
Dow futures were climbing 0.13%, indicating an open 32 points higher, while Nasdaq futures were rising 0.19%, indicating an open 14 points higher, S&P futures were climbing 0.16%, indicating an open 4 points higher.
Asian markets were mixed with the Hang Seng being the lone major index to close in the green, rising 0.5%. The Shanghai Composite dropped 0.93% and the Nikkei fell 0.01%.
European markets were falling across the board with the CAC 40 falling 0.56%, the DAX dropping 0.99% and the FTSE 100 declining 0.25% with about four hours left in trading.
