On Thursday, The Standard & Poor’s 500 prolonged its winning streak to a fifth day, again clinging to minute gains as looming predictions for economic stimulus from central banks gave boost to a market devoid of latest catalysts.
Robbins & Myers, Inc. (NYSE:RBN) shares rallied in light of its impending takeover by National Oilwell Varco Inc. (NYSE:NOV) in a deal worth $2.5 billion. This move tallies the sixth takeover NOV has taken in this year, which moves its overall M&A spending above $4 billion.
E*Trade Financial Corp (NASDAQ:ETFC) rallied 6.9 percent to $8.57 following it substituted its chief executive officer, Steven Freiberg, and stated that its board had created a team to search for a proper substitution.
S&P financial component, Citigroup Inc. (NYSE:C) is trying to repurchase outstanding bonds as the third-biggest US bank in terms of assets looks forward to using extra cash to lower its debt load.
DeVry Inc.’s (NYSE:DV) reported that its fourth-quarter profit declined as the for-profit education firm faced hardships from lower enrollment, restructuring costs and other expenses.
The firm reported on Thursday that it declared earnings of $8.1 million, or 12 cents a share, for the quarter that concluded on June 30 as compared to $75.2 million, or $1.08 a share, in the similar quarter a year ago.
On Thursday, DeVry’s stock declined 12 cents to $19.75 in after-hours trading as several investors had previously sold shares after the firm’s warning of a dull fourth-quarter result.
Another stock that took center stage on Thursday was Nordstrom (NYSE:JWN) which reported earnings of $156 million, or 75 cents a share, for the quarter concluded on July 28 in contrast with $175 million, or 80 cents for each share in the last year same quarter.
On Thursday’s after-hours session, Nordstrom shares gained 2.6 percent, or $1.42, to $56.50. The stock steeled regular trading lower 37 cents at $55.08.
