Closing Bell
U.S. futures had a strong day of trading Thursday, erasing the losses from the previous session's selloff.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 1.52%, or 396 points to 25,559, while the S&P 500 gained 0.79%, or 22 points to 2,841, and the Nasdaq rose 0.42%, or 32 points to 7,807.
Tesla on the Path to 8,000 Model 3's Per Week, Analyst Says
Evercore ISI analyst George Galliers is bullish on Tesla's (TSLA) Model 3 production goals after visiting the company's Freemont, CA factory, saying that the path is clear for the company to ramp to 8,000 Model 3's produced a week "with very little incremental capital expenditure."
"Tesla seems well on the way to achieving a steady weekly production rate of 5,000 to 6,000 units per week. We are incrementally positive on Tesla following our visit. We have confidence in their production. We did not see anything to suggest that Model 3 cannot reach 6k units per week, and 7k to 8k," Galliers wrote.
Tesla says that it has already reached consistent production topping 5,000 vehicles a week, but the company's ultimate near-term goal is for 10,000 Model 3's produced a week.
Amazon - Arriving Soon at a Theater Near You?
Amazon Inc. (AMZN) is considering the purchase of movie chain Landmark Theaters, according to Bloomberg sources.
Amazon is bidding against numerous other companies to purchase the business from Wagner/Cuban Cos, which is backed by Mark Cuban and Todd Wagner.
Landmark's theater chain, which is known for its indy offerings, has more than 50 theaters in 27 markets.
J.C. Penney Tanks on Steeper-Than-Expected Quarterly Loss
J.C. Penney Co. (JCP) was down more than 20% in premarket trading Thursday, Aug. 16, after the retailer reported a net loss of $101 million, or 32 cents a share, wider than the year-earlier loss of $48 million, or 15 cents a share.
On an adjusted basis, J.C. Penney reported a loss of 38 cents a share, well below the FactSet consensus estimate of a loss of 6 cents. Revenue also declined year over year to $2.83 billion from $3.07 billion, also below analysts' $2.81 billion estimates.
"This quarter we adjusted our approach to inventory management from 'buying to store capacity' to 'buying and chasing' into demonstrated sales trends," said Chief Financial Officer Jeffrey Davis in a statement. "Inventory receipts continued to outpace total sales performance this quarter due to prior purchase commitments."
Adding to the negative pressure, J.C. Penney reduced its same-store sales guidance to flat with adjusted losses totaling between $1 and 80 cents a share. Previously, the company expected same-store sales to be between flat and up 2% with a loss between 7 cents and 13 cents a share.
Premarket
Dow, S&P and Nasdaq futures are all climbing ahead of Thursday's opening bell as markets look set to rebound from Wednesday's dismal day of trading.
Dow futures are up 0.79%, indicating an open 199 points higher, while Nasdaq futures climbed 0.47%, indicating an open 13 points higher, and Nasdaq futures were gaining 0.63%, indicating an open 46 points higher.
Asian markets were struggling Thursday, led by the Hang Seng which fell 0.88%, the Shanghai Composite declined 0.66% and the Nikkei fell 0.05%.
The FTSE 100 rose 0.67%, the DAX gained 0.42%, and the CAC 40 rose 0.57% in Europe with about four hours left in trading.
