On this episode of Stock Movers:
- Halliburton (HAL), along with shares in several energy and oil companies, rose toward the end of the week on heightened tensions in the Middle East. Iran fired hundreds of ballistic missiles against Israel following an unprecedented direct attack on its nuclear facilities, ramping up a conflict between sworn enemies that threatens to engulf the Middle East and disrupt global oil supplies. Multiple waves of missiles targeting Israeli cities amount to the most forceful step yet by Tehran since Israel’s overnight raids killed top Iranian generals and badly damaged key military infrastructure. Israel said it identified missiles launched from the Islamic Republic and reported explosions from interceptions and falling debris from incoming projectiles. There was dramatic video footage of at least one large explosion in Tel Aviv, and reports of explosions over Jerusalem.
- Smuckers (SJM) declined the most in nearly four decades after saying US tariffs increasing costs in its coffee business will hurt profit, continuing a challenging run for the biggest US packaged food producers. The company, which owns the Folgers and Cafe Bustelo coffee brands, said adjusted earnings this fiscal year will be as much as $9.50 a share. The impact of higher coffee costs and US levies reduced that forecast by roughly $1 a share, Smuckers said.
Shares sank 16% on Tuesday in New York, the biggest drop in data compiled by Bloomberg that extends back to 1988. The stock had risen about 1.6% this year through Monday’s close, less than the S&P 500 Index’s gain of roughly 2%.
- Oracle (ORCL) shares soared to a record high after the software maker projected a 70% gain in cloud infrastructure sales this fiscal year, giving a bullish outlook for the closely watched business. The company, long known for its database software, has been gaining traction in its effort to become a major player in the business of cloud computing — renting out computing power and storage — by targeting clients focused on artificial intelligence work. Earlier this year, it announced a joint venture dubbed Stargate to provide OpenAI with massive sums of computing power. The shares gained 13% to $199.85 at the close on Thursday in New York, marking the biggest single-day increase in a year. Oracle had already climbed 17% in the last month as investors grew more optimistic that tariffs and other geopolitical issues wouldn’t disrupt the software industry.
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