Why Are These Stocks in the Spotlight Today?

Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) is trending on the news that its executive chairman, David Novak, will step down in May. Novak has been Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)’s chairman since 2000 and was the restaurant chain’s CEO until last year. Yum’s board plans to appoint a non-executive chairman to succeed him in May and will announce the identity of the person during the company’s annual shareholders meeting. Dan Loeb’s Third Point was among the 65 funds that amassed 14.6% of Yum! Brands’ float at the end of the third quarter.

A few days after it agreed to make a $500 million investment in ride-sharing app Lyft, General Motors Company (NYSE:GM) announced that its sales in China (along with that of its joint venture partners) rose by 5.2% year-over-year to 3.61 million vehicles in 2015. Given the slow economy, a positive year-over-year comp in China certainly counts as good news. China is one of the largest automotive markets in the world and General Motors Company (NYSE:GM) doing well in the country means the company’s returns to shareholders are safe. 

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