On The Fly: Top stock stories for Wednesday - InvestingChannel

On The Fly: Top stock stories for Wednesday

Stocks began the day deep in the red following the news that broke yesterday evening that top economic adviser Gary Cohn was resigning from his post in the White House. The averages recovered in the early going, only to succumb to selling pressure again and hit their lows near midday. From there the market gathered itself and tried another, more successful, recovery, leaving the Nasdaq with a daily gain, the S&P little changed and the Dow with a much milder loss than it appeared would be the case overnight and in early trading. ECONOMIC EVENTS: In the U.S., the Commerce Department reported that the trade deficit grew 5.0% to $56.6B in January. That was the highest level since October 2008 and topped expectations of an increase to $55.1B. ADP reported private payrolls increased 235,000 in February, topping the 205,000 consensus forecast. Q4 nonfarm productivity was flat, and unit labor costs were 2.5% higher, versus the preliminary 0.1% decline in productivity and 2.0% rise in labor costs. The Fed’s Beige Book said the economy continued to expand at a “modest to moderate rate” across the 12 Fed Districts in January and February. Consumer credit rose $13.9B in January. COMPANY NEWS: Autodesk (ADSK) shares surged 15% following quarterly results from the architecture, engineering, construction and manufacturing software maker. Wells Fargo analyst Philip Winslow raised his price target for Autodesk to $200 from $150 afterward, as he believes Q4 marks the positive inflection point in average revenue per subscription that he has been looking for and would expect to continue for multiple years… In addition, H&R Block (HRB) gained 11.5% after reporting better than expected revenues during the first part of this year’s tax season… Carl Icahn of Icahn Enterprises (IEP) released a statement commenting on media speculation regarding the firm’s sale of Manitowoc stock. Icahn said that the suggestion that he and his firm knew about the Trump administration’s announcement of new tariffs on steel imports is “categorically untrue” and that he reduced his firm’s position in Manitowoc for “legitimate” investment reasons having “nothing to do” with the tariff announcement… Meanwhile, shares of Snap (SNAP) were in focus after Cheddar and CNBC each reported, citing sources, that the company is laying off roughly 100 engineers. MAJOR MOVERS: Among the noteworthy gainers was Weight Watchers (WTW), which rose 5%, reversing pre-market losses after board member and spokesperson Oprah Winfrey exercised a portion of her options and sold a portion of her holdings in the company to use for philanthropic purposes. Also higher after reporting quarterly results was Abercrombie & Fitch (ANF), which gained 12%. Among the notable losers was Esperion (ESPR), which dropped 2% after the company reported top-line results from its bempedoic acid study. Also lower was Dollar Tree (DLTR), which fell 14.5% after reporting quarterly results. INDEXES: The Dow fell 82.76, or 0.33%, to 24,801.36, the Nasdaq gained 24.64, or 0.33%, to 7,396.65, and the S&P 500 dipped 1.32, or 0.05%, to 2,726.80.