Stock Market Live May 16: Cable Companies Are Concentrating, and the S&P 500 (VOO) Tries for Five
This article will be updated throughout the day, so check back often for more daily updates. The Vanguard S&P 500 ETF (NYSEMKT: VOO) opened higher on Friday and is currently barely in the green, up less than 0.1%. If it can hold onto the gain for the next six-and-a-half hours, though, this will mean the […] The post Stock Market Live May 16: Cable Companies Are Concentrating, and the S&P 500 (VOO) Tries for Five appeared first on 24/7 Wall St..
This article will be updated throughout the day, so check back often for more daily updates.
The Vanguard S&P 500 ETF (NYSEMKT: VOO) opened higher on Friday and is currently barely in the green, up less than 0.1%. If it can hold onto the gain for the next six-and-a-half hours, though, this will mean the market succeeded in rising all five days this week. Not a record, exactly, but certainly a nice trend.
Helping to keep the optimism going was a happy inflation report yesterday, when the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported a 0.5% sequential monthly decline in the producer price index for April. Annualized inflation according to this particular index is now 2.4%.
In markets news, privately-held cable company Cox Communications and publicly traded cable company Charter Communications (Nasdaq: CHTR) announced they will merge in a deal valued at $34.5 billion. The deal is structured to look more like an acquisition of Cox by Charter, with the former receiving $4 billion in cash, $6 billion in convertible preferred “units” exchangeable for Charter common stock, and 33.6 million common units, also exchangeable for Charter common stock.
Analyst Calls
Investment bank Oppenheimer is responding to the news by upgrading Charter Communications stock to outperform with a $500 price target.
Elsewhere in the market, HSBC removed its reduce rating on Carnival Corporation (NYSE: CCL) and upgraded the cruise line stock to hold. UBS similarly upgraded Caterpillar (NYSE: CAT) to neutral, citing reduced tariffs risk, and predicting “US non-residential construction will re-accelerate to 4% from flattish in 2025.”
The Swiss banker upgraded Vulcan Materials (NYSE: VMC) to buy. Carnival, Caterpillar, and Vulcan are all S&P 500 component companies.
Earnings
In earnings news, Wonder Bread-maker Flowers Foods (NYSE: FLO) reported $0.35 per share this morning, $0.03 less than expected.
The post Stock Market Live May 16: Cable Companies Are Concentrating, and the S&P 500 (VOO) Tries for Five appeared first on 24/7 Wall St..
