U.S. markets were ticking up in afternoon trading Thursday as oil climbed about 4.5% in midday trading to $43.58 a barrel, based on U.S. benchmark West Texas Intermediate. The S&P 500 and Dow Jones industrials were up 0.5% and 0.7%, respectively.
Under Armour (UA) shares were up about 5% following a management reshuffle, including the appointments of Kip Fulks as its chief product officer, Colin Browne as president of global sourcing and Andy Donkin as chief marketing officer. Fulks, to whom Browne and Donkin will report, is a former partner of founder and CEO Kevin Plank and has held a series of executive positions since Under Armour 2005 initial public offering.
"As my first partner, Kip has played an instrumental role in building the Under Armour brand and has demonstrated superior leadership across the organization for the past 20 years," Plank said in a statement. The company added, "These dynamic shifts reflect Under Armour's accelerated growth around the world and will help the brand push new boundaries, delivering on its mission to make all athletes better."
Meanwhile, department store chain Macy's (M) said it plans to close about 100 of its 728 stores, causing shares to climb about 8% as investors grew bullish over prospective cost savings for a company whose shares have fallen more than 40% over the past 12 months. The company also booked earnings per share for the second quarter of $0.54, 19% above analyst forecasts, while sales of $5.87 billion clocked in 2%.
"We are encouraged by the distinct improvement in our sales and earnings trend in the second quarter. Over the past few months, we have been saying that a setback is a setup for a comeback, and we now believe we are set up well to proceed to a comeback," CEO Terry Lundgren said in a Thursday statement.
Shares of a host of oil and gas companies were buoyed in midday trading by the rise in crude prices, with global oil giant Hess (HES) and Houston-based Marathon Oil (MRO) each up about 4%.
