Stocks on Wall Street were lower at midday as losses from markets overseas weighed on sentiment and Facebook (FB) shares dropped on reports that data of 50M users were misused. This week’s Federal Reserve’s policy meeting is also in focus as investors prepare for a potential interest rate hike. ECONOMIC NEWS: No major economic reports are expected today. COMPANY NEWS: Facebook suspended Cambridge Analytica, the political data company that worked with the Trump presidential campaign, claiming it violated rules by failing to delete user data collected by an app for research purposes, The Financial Times reported. Over the weekend, The New York Times published an article saying the data analytics company harvested private information from more than 50M Facebook users in developing techniques to support Trump’s 2016 election campaign… Newell Brands (NWL) announced an agreement with Carl Icahn, who owns about 6.9% of shares. The company agreed to appoint four independent directors designated by Icahn, with Icahn agreeing to vote in favor of the company’s proposed director slate at the upcoming annual meeting… Grubhub (GRUB) expanded its partnership with Yelp (YELP) to double the number of U.S. restaurants on the review site that offer Grubhub delivery to over 80,000. In other GrubHub news, shares were downgraded to Hold from Buy at Stifel on valuation… Macy’s (M) said it will roll out Mobile Checkout nationwide to all full-line stores by the end of this year. In addition, an augmented reality furniture shopping experience will be incorporated into the Macy’s app with a rollout beginning in April, the company said… MAJOR MOVERS: Among the notable gainers was Stewart Information Services (STC), up 9.2% after it agreed to be acquired by Fidelity National Financial (FNF) for about $1.2B in cash and stock. Also rising were shares of Heron Therapeutics (HRTX), which gained 27.2% after the company said its completed Phase 3 studies of the investigational agent HTX-011 met all primary and key secondary endpoints. Pacira Pharmaceuticals (PCRX), which makes a competing drug, fell 6.1%. Orbotech (ORBK) gained 5.5% following an announcement that it will be acquired by KLA-Tencor (KLAC) for $69.02 per share. Among the noteworthy losers was Universal Display (OLED), which dropped 14.5% amid speculation Apple (AAPL) is producing its own device displays for the first time. Also lower was Hecla Mining (HL), which fell 10.1% after it agreed to acquire all outstanding shares of Klondex Mines (KLDX) for consideration of $462M with a mix of cash and shares of Hecla common stock and the newly formed company. INDEXES: Near noon, the Dow was down 291.57, or 1.17%, to 26,654.94; the Nasdaq was down 161.46, or 2.16%, to 7,319.52; and the S&P 500 was down 34.06, or 1.24%, to 2,717.58.
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