Year: 2017

Slump in trading and mortgage activities hurt banks’ revenues to quite an extent in 2017, but gradual improvement in the rate environment helped them witness a rise in net interest margins, which drove earnings. In fact, with the overall improvement in the U.S. economy and growing investor optimism about reduced regulations, the banking industry has emerged as one of the best performers in 2017 […]

It has been a roller coaster ride for the finance sector in 2017. Though the year begun on an optimistic note with high expectations from President Trump’s electoral promises, it lost some steam in the middle only to regain the bullish trend at the end. Nonetheless, the sector showed resilience given the hawkish stance by the Fed (three rate hikes in 2017) and gradually improving U.S […]

General Electric Company GE intends to increase its ownership stake in Arcam AB from 76.2% to approximately 95%. The acquisition will be done by GE Sweden Holdings AB, a subsidiary of GE. […]

The year 2017 has been an eventful journey thanks to the “Trump Factor” that led the market to scale new highs. Major indices like the S&P 500, Dow Jones Industrial Average and NASDAQ have gained 19.5%, 25.3% and 28%, respectively, in a year, and analysts see no reasons for the momentum to recede in 2018. Synopsis of 2017 The market became witness to some major events, news and reforms in 2017 — the Fed raised benchmark interest rate thrice this year, unemployment rate reached its 17-year low rate, economy grew at a rate of 3% or more for two successive quarters, the new tax code finally passed, corporates reported sturdy earnings results and craze for cryptocurrencies rose. […]

The pharma/biotech industry was plagued by drug pricing issues last year. However, it bounced back and made a considerable headway this year, courtesy of a slew of FDA approvals. […]

The U.S. Senate passed The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017, marking President Donald Trump’s first major legislative victory. The reform, which brings down the tax rate to 21% from 35%, is anticipated to be an overall positive for the corporate sector […]

It seems that airline stocks are back in favor after being laid low by multiple headwinds like the recent hurricanes, the devastating earthquake in Mexico and issues related to customer dissatisfaction for the greater part of 2017. Contrasting Price Performances Signal Improvement Post hurricanes things are looking up for airline stocks. This is evident from the charts below which compare the price performance of the Zacks Airline industry with the S&P 500 Index in the first nine months and the last three months of 2017. […]

It’s the tail end of 2017 and we are just a few days away from ringing in the New Year. This year has been a mixed bag of sorts for the insurance industry. While economic improvement and consecutive rate hikes triggered some good news, a number of catastrophe events jeopardized the underwriting profitability for insurers. […]

Stratasys, Ltd. SSYS has generated significant returns for investors in the year-to-date period and has the potential to exceed expectations in the days ahead as well. […]

The U.S. Energy Department's inventory release showed that crude stockpiles recorded a higher-than-expected weekly draw to the lowest level since 2015. On a further bullish note, domestic oil production snapped its steadily rising trend and fell for the first time since October. […]

Apple Inc . AAPL was having a splendid 2017 until it was revealed that software updates were slowing iPhones with older batteries. […]

Wall Street had a ball in 2017 with a strong and steady run for most of the year. Several milestones were achieved by the benchmarks and investors luxuriated in the surge. […]

On a whole, 2017 proved to be great year with the markets displaying a solid bull run. The benchmark S&P 500 index has gained 20% year to date and is on the course to record its best performance in four years while Nasdaq has surged 29.1%. Buoyed by a healthy economic growth and tax overhaul euphoria, the Dow Jones Industrial Average is up an impressive 25.7% year to date and is close to hitting the historic figure of 25,000 […]