On The Fly: Top stock stories for Friday - InvestingChannel

On The Fly: Top stock stories for Friday

Stocks opened in positive territory and the Dow tacked on more than 300 points as it attempted to recoup some of its losses from Thursday. The market saw its highs shortly after the open, but the sellers emerged and pushed the market back into negative territory. The losses piled up to where the swing was more than 700 points on the Dow, but then the averages bounced again. While the averages saw a gain for the day, the market still suffered one of its worst week in a decade, while investors endured swings of hundreds of points in mere minutes. Investors were looking for market stabilization and received anything but calm. Oil prices also suffered as they fell below $60 a barrel for the first time in 2018. ECONOMIC EVENTS: In the U.S., wholesale data sharply exceeded estimates with a 1.2% December wholesale sales increase. Wholesale inventories rose 0.4% in December, beating the 0.2% increase in the advance report. In Asia, China’s inflation figures eased in January versus December, but were largely in-line with expectations. China’s CPI rose 1.5%, while the PPI grew 4.3%, both of which matched consensus forecasts. In energy news, Baker Hughes reported that the U.S. rig count is up 29 from last week to 975 rigs. COMPANY NEWS: Shares of Nvidia (NVDA) rose 6.7% following the company’s strong “beat and raise” Q4 report… Qualcomm (QCOM) announced last night that its board has unanimously rejected the “best and final” proposal by Broadcom (AVGO) to acquire all of the outstanding shares of Qualcomm for $82.00 per share in cash and stock. However, Qualcomm has offered to meet with Broadcom, after which the latter responded publicly that it hopes the willingness to meet “reflects Qualcomm’s genuine intent to reach an agreement”… Shares of UPS (UPS) and FedEx (FDX) came under pressure following a Wall Street Journal report that Amazon (AMZN) is planning to launch a delivery services for businesses called “Shipping with Amazon”… Meanwhile, Alphabet Class A (GOOGL) shares closed 3.8% higher after Uber reached a settlement pact with Alphabet’s Waymo under which Uber will pay Waymo a 0.34% equity stake to resolve a suit that accused Uber of using at least one Waymo trade secret in its driverless cars… Guess (GES) was in focus after the company’s board of directors formed a special committee to oversee an ongoing investigation into recent allegations of misconduct by co-founder Paul Marciano. MAJOR MOVERS: Among the noteworthy gainers was Pieris Pharmaceuticals (PIRS), which rose more than 20% after the company and Seattle Genetics (SGEN) said they have entered into a collaboration and license agreement with the goal of developing multiple targeted bispecific immuno-oncology treatments for solid tumors and blood cancers. Also higher after reporting quarterly results were MobileIron (MOBL), Skechers (SKX), and FireEye (FEYE). Among the notable losers was Woodward (WWD), which fell 13.6% after the company said that it is not in talks with Boeing (BA) over a possible acquisition, as had been reported. Also lower after reporting quarterly results were Web.com (WEB), Expedia (EXPE), and Lionsgate (LGF.A). INDEXES: The Dow rose 330.44, or 1.38%, to 24,190.90, the Nasdaq gained 97.33, or 1.44%, to 6,874.49, and the S&P 500 advanced 44.46, or 1.72%, to 2,625.37.