JPMorgan up on earnings, Lorillard down on merger, Lockheed's f-35 to fly again
Time for your daily dose of Trending Tickers, the stocks that you're tracking as measured by Yahoo finance ticker searches.
JPMorgan (JPM) - Shares are higher this morning after the company became the latest big bank to report better-than-expected earnings. JPM says it earned $1.46 per share in the second quarter. That's down 9% compared to last year but $0.17 higher than analysts were expecting. Legal fees and weak mortgage banking cost the firm $1 billion but that was offset by asset management, commercial banking, and rising deposits. Wall Street is also taking comfort in the fact that CEO Jamie Dimon says the prognosis on his fight against throat cancer remains positive.
Lorillard (LO) - Shares are dropping more than 7% after the smokes company agreed to be purchased by Reynolds American for $27.4 billion. The deal had been expected but investors may be spooked by the decision to divest leading e-cigarette company Blu. The merger creates a formidable number two tobacco company in the U.S. and thanks to tobacco's unique status as a tax-generating pariah, industry analysts don't expect much regulatory pushback.
Lockheed Martin (LMT)- The long-awaited F-35 has been granted partial clearance to fly after being grounded last month. As the most expensive weapon system ever built, the F-35 was supposed to be strutting itself in front of potential customers in England this week. Unfortunately, a June 23rd fire became the latest in a long-line of setbacks. The U. .is set to spend about $165 million per F-35 and there is as much as a trillion dollars earmarked for keeping the planes aloft for the next 50 years.
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