Syria shoots down 'Israeli rockets' aimed at Tiyas airport: state news agency

CAIRO – (Reuters) – Syria’s air defense on Wednesday shot down most of a series of Israeli rockets launched in the direction of Tiyas airport in Homs governorate, the state news agency reported, citing a military source.

“Losses were limited to material losses”, the state news agency added, citing the same military source.

An Israeli military spokesman declined to comment on the incident.

Stock Alert: Carnival Corporation Trades 7% Higher

Shares of Carnival Corporation & Plc (CUK) are climbing more than 7% Thursday morning at $15.22.

The cruise company today announced plans to resume operations of its two of nine global cruise line brands.

Italy-based Costa Cruises is scheduled to restart sailing in Italy on September 6, and Germany-based AIDA Cruises plans to resume operations on November 1, the company said.

Carnival Corporation’s cruise line brands were remaining shut for months due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Carnival stock has traded in the range of $7.08- $49.03 in the last one year.

Oil Falls On Demand Concerns

Oil prices fell sharply on Thursday after data released by Energy Information Administration (EIA) highlighted a fall in U.S. gasoline demand in the latest week and lag in fuel demand recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic.

Benchmark Brent crude fell 75 cents, or 1.7 percent, to $43.68 a barrel, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures were down 71 cents, or 1.7 percent, at $40.80.

The EIA report on Wednesday showed domestic crude oil and gasoline supplies declined further during the final week of August, but that was due to the impact of Hurricane Laura, which skewed the results.

The latest ADP report revealed that private payrolls in the U.S. rose at a slower than expected pace in August, raising fears that economic recovery in the country was lagging.

The euro zone’s rebound from its deepest economic downturn on record faltered in August, surveys showed earlier today as some countries re-imposed restrictions to limit the spread of the coronavirus.

Germany’s services PMI fell, but nevertheless remained relatively healthy. French business activity growth eased as new orders stagnated. The services PMIs for Italy and Spain dropped below the breakeven mark due to restrictions on logistics and travel.

Meanwhile, Eurozone retail sales fell unexpectedly in July on weak non-food products turnover, Eurostat data showed.

New Bahrain policy to allow flights between Israel and UAE to cross its airspace

CAIRO (Reuters) – Flights between Israel and the United Arab Emirates will be able to fly over Bahrain after the kingdom on Thursday said all services to and from the UAE can cross its airspace.

Are Investors Too Bearish on Conn’s Q2?

When Conn’s Inc. (NASDAQ: CONN) reported its fiscal second-quarter financial results before the markets opened on Thursday, the furniture and appliances retailer posted $0.70 in earnings per share (EPS) and $366.92 million in revenue. That compared with consensus estimates of a net loss of $0.13 per share and $377.68 million in revenue, as well as the $0.62 per share and $401.06 million posted in the same period of last year.

Retail revenues were $279.7 million, a decrease of $26.4 million, or 8.6%. This was driven primarily by a 13.2% decrease in same-store sales, partially offset by new store growth. The decrease in same-store sales reflects proactive underwriting changes and industrywide supply chain disruptions, each of which was the result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Separately, Credit revenues were $87.0 million, a decrease of $7.8 million year over year, or 8.2%. Cash and third-party sales grew 51% compared to the prior fiscal year period reflecting strong demand for home-related products. At the same time, e-commerce sales grew 72% year over year.

On the books, Conn’s cash and cash equivalents totaled $6.39 million at the end of the quarter, up from $5.49 million at the end of the previous fiscal year.

The company did not issue any guidance for the fiscal third quarter, but this is not uncommon as COVID-19 has created much uncertainty in the market. Consensus estimates call for a net loss of $0.06 per share and $352.02 million in revenue for the quarter.

Conn’s stock traded down more than 12% to $12.00 on Thursday, in a 52-week range of $2.83 to $27.57. The consensus price target is $12.17.

US stocks end sharply lower, Dow down 2.8%, Nasdaq 5%

NEW YORK (AFP) – Wall Street stocks suffered steep declines on Thursday (Sept 3), giving back some of the gains from a torrid August as investors took profits amid worries about bubble-like valuations.

The tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index led the market lower following a sell-off in tech shares, ending at 11,458.10, down 5 per cent.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average shed 2.8 per cent to 28,289.17, while the broad based S&P 500 tumbled 3.5 per cent to 3,454.88.

Stock Alert: SmileDirectClub Continues Its Uptick

Shares of teledentistry company SmileDirectClub, Inc. (SDC) are up more than 3% Thursday morning at $10.12, keeping yesterday’s momentum.

Wednesday SmileDirectClub stock had soared more than 15% on the news of insider purchase of the company’s shares.

According to an SEC filings, CEO & Chairman of the company, David Katzman has bought nearly 1.3 million shares for about $10.3 million.

SDC is nearly 30% up from $7.87, the closing price of September 1. It has traded in the range of $3.64- $21.10 in the last one year.

Quicken Loans parent swings to profit in first results since IPO

Sept 2 (Reuters) – Rocket Companies Inc, the parent of mortgage lender Quicken Loans, on Wednesday reported a profit for the second quarter, compared to a year-ago loss, in its first results as a public company.

The company’s net income was $3.5 billion in the three months ended June 30, compared to a loss of $54 million a year earlier. (Reporting by Niket Nishant and Neha Malara in Bengaluru; Editing by Sriraj Kalluvila)