Stocks opened in positive territory, adding to their gains from yesterday. The Nasdaq, which moved over 7,000 for the first time yesterday, is leading once again while the Dow is just a little more than 100 points away from the 25,000 level. Meanwhile, oil prices have moved above the $61 a barrel level as cold temperatures along the East coast of the U.S. and civil unrest in Iraq help give the commodity a lift. ECONOMIC EVENTS: In the U.S., the ISM manufacturing index rose 1.5 points to 59.7 in December, which was better than forecast. Construction spending rose 0.8% in November, which was also better than expected. The Federal Reserve is scheduled to release minutes from its December meeting at 2 pm ET. COMPANY NEWS: Shares of Intel (INTC) have slid about 4% near noon following a report from The Register, a U.K.-based tech blog, that alleged the company’s processor chips have a fundamental security flaw that forced redesigns of Linux and Windows kernels. Wall Street analysts, including Bank of American Merrill Lynch’s Vivek Arya, have noted that AMD (AMD) could be a beneficiary whether this is a real or a perceived additional risk for Intel. AMD shares have risen 7% following the report… Dominion Energy (D) and Scana Corporation (SCG) announced an agreement for the companies to combine in a stock-for-stock merger in which Scana shareholders would receive Dominion stock representing the equivalent of $55.35 per Scana share. Including assumption of debt, the value of the transaction is approximately $14.6B. Following the deal announcement, Scana has risen 23% to just under $48 per share, while Dominion is down a bit over 3%. MAJOR MOVERS: Among the noteworthy gainers was Arena Pharmaceuticals (ARNA), which surged 12% after Wells Fargo analyst Jim Birchenough upgraded the stock to Outperform and raised his price target on the shares to $53 from $19, saying that an improved FDA environment could facilitate approval of ralinepag in pulmonary arterial hypertension. Also higher was Roku (ROKU), which gained 9% after the company announced an expansion of its licensing program and plans to develop a new voice assistant. Among the notable losers was MoneyGram (MGI), which fell 9% after it announced that it agreed to terminate its merger pact with Ant Financial. Also lower was Community Health (CYH), which dropped 9% after Goldman Sachs analyst Stephen Tanal initiated coverage of the stock with a Sell rating and a $3 price target due to its group-low EBITDA margin, weak CROCI outlook, and heavy debt load. INDEXES: Near midday, the Dow was up 40.48, or 0.16%, to 24,864.49, the Nasdaq was up 44.33, or 0.63%, to 7,051.23, and the S&P 500 was up 11.57, or 0.43%, to 2,707.38.
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