Stocks opened little changed, but in positive territory, though the major averages weakened as the morning progressed and then drifted in the red into the close. The Dow was able to ride a late day jump to close in the green, while the Nasdaq lagged and finished with a loss, weighed down by Priceline. The sluggishness came as the domestic economic calendar was quiet and the earnings calendar lacked any bellwether names this morning. ECONOMIC EVENTS: In the U.S., the Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey, or JOLTS, report showed 6.09M job openings in September, up a small amount from the revised figure for the prior month. Consumer credit increased $20.8B in September, according to the Federal Reserve, compared to the consensus call for growth of $17.4B. COMPANY NEWS: Priceline (PCLN) and Tripadvisor (TRIP) were 13.5% and 23% lower, respectively, after each reported on its quarterly results last night. While both reported better than expected earnings per share, Priceline gave disappointing fourth quarter guidance and Tripadvisor missed on revenue… Last night, Salesforce (CRM) and Google (GOOG, GOOGL) announced a new strategic partnership, as part of which Salesforce has named Google Cloud as a preferred public cloud provider. Salesforce also gave its first look at fiscal 2019 revenue outlook, guiding for revenue of $12.45B-$12.5B. Today, Salesforce said during an Investor Day presentation that the company is aiming for $20B-$22B in revenue by FY22… Meanwhile, the New York Times reported that Disney (DIS) has ended its ban of The Los Angeles Times, which is owned by tronc (TRNC), from press screenings of its films. The move comes after a number of news organizations, including the Washington Post and the New York Times (NYT) itself, said they would boycott advance screenings of the media giant’s movies in solidarity with the LA Times… Blue Apron (APRN) shares plunged 21% after CNBC reported that CFO Brad Dickerson said that the company’s new fulfillment center in Linden, New Jersey, is experiencing “unexpected costs” and causing a drag on profits. MAJOR MOVERS: Among notable companies up after earnings were Valeant (VRX), which advanced 17%, and Weight Watchers (WTW), which rose 13.5%. In addition, GGP (GGP) shares jumped nearly 17% after Bloomberg reported that Brookfield (BAM) was in talks to potentially acquire the rest of GGP that it doesn’t already own. Some noteworthy losers after reporting earnings were Mallinckrodt (MNK) and TrueCar (TRUE), which each fell over 35%. INDEXES: The Dow added 8.81, or 0.04%, to 23,557.23, the Nasdaq lost 18.65, or 0.27%, to 6,767.78, and the S&P 500 dipped 0.49, or 0.02%, to 2,590.64.
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