Here's what happened on Wall Street on Monday, Nov. 27.
The major averages opened the day in the red briefly before hovering around the baseline shortly after the opening bell.
The Dow was able to rebound from a weak morning session to close trading up 0.1% Monday. The Nasdaq and S&P 500 closed trading down 0.15% and 0.04% respectively.
Apple iPhone X Sales Are Kind of Disappointing to UBS
Apple (AAPL) will have to expand its market share if it hopes to sell more iPhones, according to a UBS note Monday. 2017 was supposed to be Apple's "supercycle" year when customers who were content buying older versions of the iPhone for three years would splurge on a truly unique iPhone X.
While the numbers have been solid, and Apple's stock has risen in turn, the numbers some of the bulls were expecting have not been met.
The stock narrative should shift from iPhone cycles to iPhone annuity-how does Apple monetize the installed base through additional products and services?" UBS analyst Steven Milunovich wrote in today's note.
Apple shares were down 0.3% Monday afternoon.
SNF Ratings Down 10% From Season High Last Week
NBC's (CMCSA) Sunday Night Football broadcast of the Pittsburgh Steelers win against the Green Bay Packers was down 10% from last week's season-high broadcast. (CMCSA is a holding of Action Alerts PLUS)
The broadcast scored a 12.1/20 metered rating. Last week's game snagged over 21 million viewers.
While viewership was down week-to-week, year-to-year the broadcast was up 3%. Once again, football was the evening's most-watched show, even with the week-to-week rating decline.
Cyber Monday Is a Big Hit So Far
U.S. consumers have spent $840 million on Cyber Monday deals so far today, according to Adobe. Sales are expected to set a record of $6.6 billion for the day.
The $840 million is up 17% from the same timeframe last year.
This holiday season is expected to see over $107 billion in sales, up from the more than $94 billion that was spent last year. Adobe noted:
"Cyber Monday is expected to make history again as the biggest U.S. online shopping day of all time, driving a billion dollars more than last year. As consumers make their way back to work, they are poised to be hitting the buy button all day, as most big discounts will end by midnight. A lot more of this will be happening on smartphones as well, where smoother buying experiences through auto-fill capabilities are helping drive the growth we see in mobile."
CSX Shares Fall Following Train Derailment
Shares of train operator CSX (CSX) were down about 1% Monday after nine cars derailed in Lakeland, Florida. Nine cars derailed, including four cars carrying molten sulfur, forcing local officials to warn residents to stay in their homes.
CSX said that there haven't been any evacuations, but several cars are believed to have leaked their contents, according to NPR.
The CSX train had been traveling from Waycross, GA to Winston, FLA and featured three locomotives and nearly 200 rail cars.
Unilever Acquires Haircare Company Sundial Brands
Beauty products manufacturer Unilever (UL) announced that it had purchased skincare and haircare product maker Sundial Brands for an undisclosed amount Monday.
Unilever also said that as part of the deal the two company's would create an investment fund of $50 million to "empower women of color entrepreneurs."
"The Sundial team has built differentiated and on-trend premium brands serving multicultural and millennial consumers that enhance our existing portfolio," said Unilever President Kees Kruythoff.
Sundial's brands include SheaMoisture, Nubian Heritage, Madam C.J. Walker and nyakio.
Uber on Losing End of Injunction Decision, Forced to Halt Pilot Program in Tel Aviv
Uber's run of bad luck and PR continued Monday after an Israeli court issued an injunction halting the ride-hailing service's pilot program in the country. Israel's Transportation Ministry along with cab driver unions pushed for the injunction due to Uber drivers' lack of business licenses to operate.The injunction is scheduled to become official Wednesday.
Uber says that it hopes to work with the Israeli government and achieve a long-term solution that will allow it to operate in the country.
Imgur Reports Data Hack That Compromised 1.7 million Accounts
A hacker breached photo-hosting website Imgur's security and stole 1.7 million emails and passwords in 2014, the company found out on Thanksgiving. The next day Imgur disclosed the breach.
The person responsible for the hack sat on the information until last week when the hacker sent the information to security researcher Troy Hunt. Hunt praised Imgur's response to the hack on Twitter.
I want to recognise @imgur's exemplary handling of this: that's 25 hours and 10 mins from my initial email to a press address to them mobilising people over Thanksgiving, assessing the data, beginning password resets and making a public disclosure. Kudos! https://t.co/jV8MDscXLT
— Troy Hunt (@troyhunt) November 25, 2017
This is really where we're at now: people recognise that data breaches are the new normal and they're judging organisations not on the fact that they've had one, but on how they've handled it when its happened https://t.co/zV5YLa8hKQ
— Troy Hunt (@troyhunt) November 25, 2017
Morgan Stanley Note Causes Massive Samsung Selloff
Shares of Samsung, the Korean market's largest stock, fell more than 5% Monday after analysts at Morgan Stanley lowered the company's rating one notch to "equal-weight."
In spite of the downgrade, Morgan Stanley expects's Samsung's earnings to grow 23% next year, well higher than the 20.3% median growth forecast.
The Wall Street Journal's "Heard on the Street" column suggests that the selloff, based on only a slight downgrade, is due to tepid investor confidence in the Asian tech sector. Samsung's shares have doubled since 2016.
Barracuda Networks to Go Private in $1.6 Billion Deal
Data security company Barracuda Networks (CUDA) agreed to be sold to private equity firm Thoma Bravo for $1.6 billion. The company will be taken private once the transaction closes.
Barracuda shareholders will receive $27.55 per share in the deal, a 22.5% premium over the stock's 10-day trading average.
"We believe the proposed transaction offers an opportunity for us to accelerate our growth with our industry-leading security platform that's purpose-built for highly distributed, diverse cloud and hybrid environments," Barracuda CEO BJ Jenkins said in a statement.
The transaction is expected to close before the end of the company's fiscal year on February 28.
Walmart Online Prices Are Within Striking Distance of Amazon
Walmart's (WMT) investment in online sales is paying dividends as the company's prices are closer to rival Amazon's (AMZN) than they've ever been.
Prices for items on Walmart.com are now only 0.3% higher than Amazon on average, according to a study commissioned by Reuters.
In categories like wearable trackers, Walmart's prices are 6.4% lower than Amazon this year after being more than 12% higher than Amazon last year. For sports and outdoor products, Walmart is now 1.3% cheaper than Amazon after being more than 3% more expensive last year.
Call of Duty Sales Should Help Bolster Already Strong Revenue Growth at Activision
Action Alerts PLUS holding Activision Blizzard (ATVI) has a hit on its hands with the latest installment of its "Call of Duty" franchise, and the Black Friday numbers from the U.K. help bolster its start status.
The first person shooter spent a fourth straight week at the top of the U.K. video game charts. Activision announced that the game brought in $500 million in revenue following its first three days of availability at the beginning of the month, more than double the revenue from its predecessor.
Activision Blizzard shares were down 0.3% premarket Monday.
Businesses Are Taking on Fewer Loans Even as Economy Hums
The 12-month loan growth rate in the third quarter hit its lowest point since 2013, according to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. This quarter also marks the sixth straight quarter of declines in the metric.
The growth rate for business lending, one of the most profitable segments for lenders, reached its lowest level in over six years.
The overall growth rate of loans at big banks like JPMorgan (JPM) and Bank of America (BAC) was up 3% each, but Wells Fargo (WFC) reported a 1% decline in overall loans.
Premarket
U.S. futures contracts pointed to a soft opening for markets Monday as the major averages look to continue the gains they made during the muted session Friday.
S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average futures were both declining 0.03% while the Nasdaq fell 0.02% ahead of the opening bell.
World markets were deep in the red Monday with the Shanghai Composite leading the way lower and closing down 0.94%. The Hang Seng and Nikkei closed trading down 0.6% and 0.24%, respectively.
In Europe, the DAX in Germany was down 0.24%, the CAC 40 in France declined 0.21% and the FTSE 100 in the U.K. fell 0.11%.
