Gold futures mark highest settlement in 7 years

Gold futures climbed on Thursday for a sixth consecutive session to log their highest settlement since February 2013. "Coronavirus fears magnetized investors towards safe-haven assets," said Lukman Otunuga, senior research analyst at FXTM. "With the virus outbreak fostering uncertainty, unease and anxiety across the board, gold is set to shine through the chaos." April gold GCJ20, +0.65% rose $8.70, or 0.5%, to settle at $1,620.50 an ounce.

Dow transports rises to defy Dow industrials selloff, as Avis’s stock soars toward 2-year high

The Dow Jones Transportation Average DJT, +0.85% rallied 44 points, or 0.4%, in afternoon trading Thursday, with 13 of 20 components gaining ground, to defy the selloff suffered by the broader market indexes. The Dow transports were being led higher by shares of Avis Budget Group Inc. CAR, +15.66%, which shot up 14% after the car rental company reported fourth-quarter earnings that beat expectations and provided an upbeat sales forecast. The stock’s price gain of $6.03 was adding about 37 points to the Dow transports’s price. Avis’s stock was on track for the highest close since April 2018. Meanwhile, the Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA, -0.43% slumped 215 points, or 0.7%, with 22 of 30 components losing ground.

Domino’s Pizza shares en route to a record close after earnings and sales beat expectations

Domino’s Pizza Inc. DPZ, +25.36% stock gained nearly 28% in Thursday trading, en route to a record close, after it reported fourth-quarter earnings and sales that beat expectations. Net income totaled $129.3 million, or $3.12 per share, up from $111.6 million, or $2.62 per share, last year. Adjusted EPS rose 19.5% year-over-year to $3.13, ahead of the $2.98 FactSet consensus. Revenue of $1.15 billion was up from $1.08 billion last year and also beat the $1.13 billion FactSet outlook. U.S. same-store sales increased 3.4% and international same-store sales were up 1.7%. FactSet was guiding for U.S. growth of 2.3% and an international increase of 2.0%. Domino’s doesn’t provide quarterly or annual guidance, however, the company has a two-to-three year outlook that includes 7% to 10% global retail sales growth, 2% to 5% U.S. same-store sales growth, and 1% to 4% international same-store sales growth. Domino’s shares are up 33.8% over the past year. The S&P 500 index SPX, -0.40% has gained 21% for the last 12 months.

Turkey will activate Russian S-400 missile systems: minister

ANKARA (Reuters) – Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar said on Thursday that Turkey will activate the S-400 missile systems which it has bought from Russia and there should be “no doubt” about this.

Akar was speaking in an interview with broadcaster CNN Turk.

Reliance Steel’s stock suffering biggest drop in nearly 9 years after downbeat outlook trumps dividend hike, profit beat

Shares of Reliance Steel & Aluminum Co. RS, -8.04% tumble 8.7% toward a four-month low in afternoon trading Thursday, putting them on track for the worst one-day performance in 8 1/2 years, after the metals service company beat fourth-quarter profit expectations and raised its dividend, but provided downbeat first-quarter outlook. Net income rose to $165.6 million, or $2.44 a share, from $85.6 million, or $1.22 a share, in the year-ago period. Adjusted earnings per share was also $2.44, but that was well above the FactSet consensus of $1.73. Sales fell 13% to $2.45 billion, just shy of the FactSet consensus of $2.49 billion, citing both demand and pricing pressure. The company said it based on its expectation that overall metals pricing will remain near current levels, it expects first-quarter adjusted EPS of $2.00 to $2.10, well below the FactSet consensus of $2.39. Separately, the company raised its quarterly dividend to 62.5 cents a share from 55 cents, with the new dividend payable March 27 to shareholders of record on March 13. Based on current stock prices, the new annual dividend rate implies a dividend yield of 2.33%, compared with the implied yield for the S&P 500 SPX, -0.40% of 1.80%. Reliance’s stock has shed 8.7% over the past three months, while the S&P 500 has gained 8.4%.

Fitbit earnings show worst holiday sales performance since IPO amid Google acquisition

Fitbit Inc. FIT, -0.46% holiday sales declined more than 12% to the lowest fourth-quarter total for the company since it went public amid an acquisition attempt by Alphabet Inc. GOOG, -0.56%GOOGL, -0.52%, according to an earnings report released Thursday afternoon. Fitbit reported fourth-quarter losses of $120.8 million, or 46 cents a share, on sales of $502.1 million, down from $571.2 million a year ago. After adjusting for stock-based compensation, acquisition costs and other expenses, Fitbit reported losses of 12 cents a share. Analysts on average expected Fitbit to report adjusted profit of 4 cents a share on sales of $531.7 million, according to FactSet. Fitbit noted that it sold more devices than a year ago, but at reduced prices. Google parent company Alphabet agreed to acquire Fitbit for $7.35 a share in November, even as Google faces an antitrust investigation from the federal government. Fitbit said in Thursday’s announcement that regulatory approval for the deal is expected this year, and the company would not provide any guidance while it waits for the deal to close. Fitbit shares closed Thursday at $6.46 and declined about 2% in after-hours action following release of the results.