Stocks are working their way through another volatile session. The market opened mixed, with the Dow and S&P in positive territory and the Nasdaq lower as it struggled under the weight of Amazon (AMZN) shares. The Dow joined the Nasdaq in negative ground soon after the open, but then reversed and moved back across the flat line, swinging more than 100 points in the process. There has been little news to account for the volatility, though portfolio managers may be positioning themselves ahead of the quarterly close and more market gyrations may be in store as the holiday shortened week wraps up. ECONOMIC EVENTS: In the U.S., GDP was revised up to a 2.9% growth rate in Q4, a little better than expected. The advance goods trade deficit widened further to $75.4B in February from a revised $75.3B in January. An index of pending home sales rose 3.1% to a reading of 107.5 in February. COMPANY NEWS: Shares of Amazon have slid about 5% this morning after Axios reported that President Donald Trump may want to go after the e-commerce giant rather than Facebook (FB) and has discussed changing the former’s tax treatment… Facebook, embroiled recently in a scandal over the way it has handled users’ personal data, has announced a privacy policy change. The company reported that it has introduced a new, secure way for people to access and manage their information and delete anything from their timeline or profile that they no longer want on Facebook… A day after Tesla (TSLA) shares slid 8% amid news that the National Transportation Safety Board sent two investigators to conduct a field investigation on a fatal crash involving one of the company’s vehicles, the company addressed the crash, stating that it proactively reached out to the authorities to offer assistance in investigating. Additionally, last night Moody’s announced that has downgraded Tesla’s corporate family rating to B3. Shares are weak again today, falling a further 7% near midday… Shire (SHPG) shares have risen 15% after Takeda Pharmaceutical (TKPYY) overnight confirmed that it is considering making an approach regarding a possible offer for the company. Shire acknowledged the announcement by the Japanese drugmaker, but said it has not received an approach from Takeda. MAJOR MOVERS: Among the noteworthy gainers was RSP Permian (RSPP), which surged 16% after it agreed to be acquired by Concho Resources (CXO) in an all stock deal valued at roughly $9.5B. Shares of Concho Resources are down 9% after the news. Also higher were RH (RH) and Lululemon (LULU), which gained a respective 23% and 10% after reporting quarterly results. Among the notable losers was Edge Therapeutics (EDGE), which sunk 92% after it decided to discontinue its Phase 3 NEWTON 2 study of EG-1962 in adults with aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage. Also lower was Shoe Carnival (SCVL), which fell 5% after reporting quarterly results. INDEXES: Near midday, the Dow was up 22.64, or 0.1%, to 23,880.35, the Nasdaq was down 49.89, or 0.71%, to 6,958.91, and the S&P 500 was down 1.98, or 0.08%, to 2,610.64.
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