Stocks had a rare down day, with the S&P 500 declining for only its third session in the last three weeks, after earnings from Goldman Sachs (GS) disappointed a bit. More media reports over the weekend pointed toward progress on the trade front between the U.S. and China, but the market appears to be pricing in a deal at this point and may be more concerned with earnings for the time being barring a trade negotiation setback.
ECONOMIC EVENTS: In the U.S., the Empire State manufacturing index rebounded 6.4 points to 10.1 in April, which was better than the 8.0 reading that was expected.
TOP NEWS: Shares of Citigroup (C) were fractionally lower and Goldman Sachs declined 3.8% following the quarterly reports released by the banks earlier today. Citi CEO Michael Corbat said his bank's earnings "reflect the progress we are making to improve our return on and return of capital," while Goldman Chairman and CEO David Solomon said he was pleased with his own firm's performance in the first quarter, "especially in the context of a muted start to the year."
Shares of Alliance Data (ADS) fell 9.4% after the company announced it had entered into a definitive agreement to sell its Epsilon business to Publicis Groupe (PUBGY) for $4.4B in cash.
In other M&A news, Waste Management (WM) announced a deal to acquire Advanced Disposal Services (ADSW) for $33.15 per share in cash, representing a total enterprise value of $4.9B when including approximately $1.9B of Advanced Disposal's net debt. Following the announcement, Advanced Disposal shares jumped 17.9% while Waste Management shares were 2.4% higher at the close.
Meanwhile, Boeing (BA) was in focus after U.S. President Donald Trump tweeted that the planemaker should fix and "rebrand" its 737 MAX jetliner following two fatal crashes. Meanwhile, Bloomberg reported that American Airlines (AAL) s pulling the Max through August 19, while Reuters said that United Airlines (UAL) has decided to pull flights of its 737 MAX fleet out of its schedule "through early July."
MAJOR MOVERS: Among the noteworthy gainers was Electronics for Imaging (EFII), which rose 29.2% after it agreed to be acquired by an affiliate of Siris Capital in a deal valued at roughly $1.7B. Also higher was Gogo (GOGO), which gained 8.1% after it announced preliminary first quarter results.
Among the notable losers was Aphria (APHA), which slid 14.8% after entering into a series of transactions that will accelerate the expiry date to April 25 for the previously announced take-over bid by Green Growth Brands and will terminate the arrangements with GA Opportunities. Also lower was Lyft (LYFT), which fell 6.3% after the company announced that it would remove 3,000 of its electric bikes from service in three cities due to a braking problem.
INDEXES: The Dow fell 27.53, or 0.1%, to 26,384.77, the Nasdaq lost 8.15, or 0.1%, to 7,976.01, and the S&P 500 declined 1.83, or 0.06%, to 2,905.58.
