The Federal Reserve acted as U.S. market rocket fuel on Thursday after announcing the much-expected decision not to raise interest rates this month. In response, the S&P 500 Index improved by 1.1%, the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.9% and the Nasdaq Composite climbed 1% higher.
Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ:YHOO) should be on most investors’ radars this morning amid reports that it’s about to announce a massive data breach. Also in the spotlight today are Red Hat Inc (NYSE:RHT) and Sarepta Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ:SRPT).
Here’s what you need to know:
Yahoo! Inc. (YHOO)
YHOO shares are actually up a couple percent this morning, but the expected news du jour is decidedly negative.
Specifically, several outlets are buzzing that Yahoo is going to confirm details about a data breach initially reported in August. The breach affected some 200 million accounts that have already been sold on the dark web. However, while Yahoo said it was aware that a hacker had claimed the breach, it did not immediately confirm whether it happened, and instead launched an investigation.
A Recode report says “several sources close to the situation” believe Yahoo’s investigation is done, and that the company is about to confirm the data breach. “They noted that it is widespread and serious,” the report says.
The deal likely won’t threaten the eventuality of YHOO’s sale to Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ), but it could threaten both the timing and the final price of the deal. The original winning bid was $4.8 billion.
Nonetheless, YHOO shares are up 1% in Thursday’s premarket trade, but that could change if the confirmation of the breach is made.
Red Hat Inc (RHT)
Red Hat had a strong second quarter, as its software offerings continue to reach a wider audience. And RHT stock is soaring as a result.
The company behind Linux earned 55 cents per share over the three-month period, surpassing analysts’ expectations for a 54-cent quarter. Meanwhile, net sales of $600 million beat the consensus by $6 million.
Things are rosy looking forward, as well. Red Hat updated its outlook for the third quarter at 58 cents per share on revenue of $618 million. Analysts were estimating 57 cents per share and revenue of $615 million.
“We continued to close a record number of deals over $1 million in our second quarter, which are up more than 60% year over year,” Red Hat CFO Frank said in a release.
RHT shares were up nearly 7% Thursday morning.
Sarepta Therapeutics Inc (SRPT)
SRPT shares are holding up pretty well despite the fact that the company announced a stock offering.
The pharmaceutical company revealed that it would sell up to $225 million worth of SRPT shares — an unsurprising move that comes just a few days after good news from U.S. regulators shot shares out of a cannon.
Specifically, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration gave accelerated approval to Sarepta’s eteplirsen, a Duchenne muscular dystrophy drug, which sent SRPT stock up by nearly double over the past three days.
The agency voted 7-3 in favor of the medication being passed.
Typically, stock offerings — which are dilutive to shareholders — are greeted by losses, but so far SRPT is holding up well, up fractionally in premarket trade.
