Stocks have endured a volatile session as the averages have moved back and forth across the flat line a couple of times. The Dow has been the underperformer, due to pressure from Boeing (BA) shares, which are slipping after The Wall Street Journal reported, citing safety experts and FAA officials, that the planemaker didn't disclose a possible fault in a flight safety feature suspected of playing a role in last month's fatal Lion Air crash. In response, Boeing CEO Dennis Muilenburg stated during an interview that the company has been "very engaged with the investigative authorities" and "the bottom-line is that the 737 Max is a very safe airplane."
ECONOMIC EVENTS: In the U.S., the NFIB reported that its index of small business confidence fell 0.5% to 107.4 in October. Director of the National Economic Council Larry Kudlow said during an interview on CNBC that "all levels" of government are in trade talks with China and confirmed that trade talks will be part of G-20 meeting.
COMPANY NEWS: Amazon (AMZN) confirmed recent press reports that it has selected New York City and Arlington, Virginia, as the locations for its new headquarters, stating that it will invest $5B and create more than 50,000 jobs across the two new headquarters locations. Also, Amazon selected Nashville for a new Center of Excellence for its Operations business, which the e-commerce giant said will create more than 5,000 jobs.
Shares of Home Depot (HD) initially advanced, but then reversed course, following the company's report of better then expected third quarter earnings. While the home improvement retailer also raised its full year outlook, Baird analyst Peter Benedict said the guidance, though higher, implies a Q4 outlook slightly below Street consensus.
For the second straight day, a supplier of components for smartphones cut its near-term forecast citing an unnamed customer believed to be Apple (AAPL). Qorvo (QRVO) lowered its revenue and earnings forecasts for the third quarter of fiscal 2019 due to recent demand changes for "flagship smartphones." Though Qorvo did not mention Apple in its press release, the company's warning comes a day after another supplier, Lumentum (LITE), cut its own forecasts.
In M&A news, General Electric (GE) announced a series of agreements that amend its commercial and technological relationship with Baker Hughes (BHGE). As part of the deal, Baker Hughes and GE agreed to cooperate on a proposed sale by GE of part of its stake into the market and to a concurrent repurchase of another part of GE's stake by Baker Hughes. Accordingly, GE has commenced a secondary offering of 92M shares of Baker Hughes Class A common stock and Baker Hughes agreed to repurchase from GE 65M shares of BHGE Class B common stock.
Also, Johnson Controls (JCI) announced an agreement to sell its Power Solutions business to Brookfield Business Partners (BBU) together with institutional partners in a cash transaction valued at $13.2B.
MAJOR MOVERS: Among the noteworthy gainers was Nvidia (NVDA), which rose 6% after Susquehanna analyst Christopher Rolland upgraded the stock to Positive from Neutral. Also higher was Advance Auto Parts (AAP), which gained 9.5% after reporting quarterly results.
Among the notable losers were Edgewell Personal Care (EPC) and Tyson Foods (TSN), which fell 7% and 6%, respectively, after reporting quarterly results.
INDEXES: Near midday, the Dow was up 38.15, or 0.15%, to 25,425.33, the Nasdaq was up 62.88, or 0.87%, to 7,263.75 , and the S&P 500 was up 14.47, or 0.53%, to 2,740.69.
