Stocks opened mixed and have remained that way throughout the morning. The Dow and S&P are in the green, while the Nasdaq has struggled under the weight of Apple (AAPL) shares, which have continued their post-earnings slide. Oil prices have risen slightly following the imposition of sanctions on Iran, though some allowances have been permitted by the U.S. to certain buyers.
ECONOMIC EVENTS: In the U.S., Markit's services PMI rose 1.3 points to 54.8 in the final October print from 54.8 in September. The final reading was up a tick from the 54.7 preliminary look. The ISM non-manufacturing index fell 1.3 points to 60.3 in October, down from a 21-year high of 61.6 in September but still better than forecast.
COMPANY NEWS: Shares of Apple have slid 3.5% after the Nikkei Asian Review reported, citing sources familiar with the situation, that the company has signaled disappointing demand for the new iPhone XR to assemblers Foxconn (HNHPF) and Pegatron. According to a source, Foxconn prepared roughly 60 assembly lines for Apple's lower-cost XR model, but has recently used only about 45, meaning it is producing around 25% fewer of the devices than it can at full capacity.
While its biggest holding slides, shares of Warren Buffet's Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.A) are rising 5% after the conglomerate reported third quarter operating earnings that had doubled from the same period of last year. Regulatory filings show that Berkshire's top holdings as of June 30 were, in order of size, Apple, Wells Fargo (WFC) and Kraft Heinz (KHC).
Amazon (AMZN) is contending with several noteworthy news items from this morning and over the weekend. Two workers at an Amazon warehouse in Baltimore died on November 2 after part of the building collapsed during a storm, according to Recode. Also over the weekend, President Donald Trump stated during an interview with Axios that aired on HBO that his administration is "looking at" whether Amazon, Facebook (FB), and Google (GOOGL) are violating antitrust laws. This morning, Amazon announced that it is giving all Amazon customers free shipping with no minimum purchase amount on orders that will arrive in time for the Christmas holiday. Additionally, The Wall Street Journal said, citing people familiar with the matter, that the e-commerce giant has progressed to late-stage talks on its planned second headquarters with a small handful of communities, including northern Virginia's Crystal City, Dallas and New York City.
MAJOR MOVERS: Among the noteworthy gainers was Travelport (TVPT), which rose 7% after Dealreporter said Elliott Management has renewed its effort to take the travel technology company private. Also higher was American Axle (AXL), which gained 2% after BofA Merrill Lynch upgraded the stock to Neutral from Underperform and maintained a $13 price target on the shares.
Among the notable losers were Clearside Biomedical (CLSD), which plunged 59% after the company this morning announced that the Phase 3 Sapphire results for Xipere plus Eylea in retinal vein occlusion did not meet the primary endpoint of third-line gainers versus Eylea alone. Also lower was Welbilt (WBT), which fell 24% after reporting quarterly results.
INDEXES: Near midday, the Dow was up 127.22, or 0.50%, to 25,398.05, the Nasdaq was down 66.88, or 0.91%, to 7,290.11, and the S&P 500 was up 7.10, or 0.26%, to 2,730.16.
