Stocks are having an up day and look headed for a weekly gain as progress appears to have been made toward a trade deal with China. In the latest turn on that front, reports indicate that President Trump is open to considering an interim deal, keeping the recent optimism intact. Additional help for the market came from the morning's economic data, including positive reports on retail sales and consumer sentiment.
ECONOMIC EVENTS: In the U.S., retail sales rose 0.4% in August, and were unchanged excluding autos. Import prices fell 0.5% in August, with export prices slipping 0.6%. The University of Michigan consumer sentiment report bounced 2.2 points to 92.0 in September from a 3-year low of 89.8 in August. The July business inventory report slightly beat estimates with a 0.4% headline rise for inventories and a 0.3% increase in sales.
TOP NEWS: The U.S. House Judiciary Committee sent letters to Facebook (FB), Amazon (AMZN), Alphabet (GOOG), and Apple (AAPL) requesting that the companies provide documents and executive communications. The Committee said that the focus of its "bipartisan investigation" is to examine competition issues in digital markets, whether "dominant" companies are engaging in anti-competitive practices online, and whether existing antitrust laws, competition policies, and current enforcement levels are "adequate to address these issues."
On the earnings front, Broadcom (AVGO) shares were 3% lower near noon after the semiconductor company reported results for its fiscal third quarter, with Q3 adjusted earnings per share beating consensus estimates while revenue for the quarter just missed Wall Street expectations. The company also reaffirmed its revenue guidance for fiscal 2019. Of note, Broadcom CEO Hock Tan said that demand for the company's semiconductor solutions segment "has bottomed out but will continue to remain at these levels due to the current uncertain environment."
In IPO news, the We Company (WE) disclosed in an amended initial public offering filing that it will list its shares on the Nasdaq (NDAQ). Additionally, the company said it is making a number of governance changes "in response to market feedback," including barring any member of co-founder Adam Neumann's family from serving on the board and ensuring that any CEO who succeeds Neumann will be selected by the board of directors. Meanwhile, Reuters' Joshua Franklin and Anirban Sen reported that the company may seek a valuation of $10B-$12B in its IPO, a drastic discount to the $47B it was valued at in January.
MAJOR MOVERS: Among the noteworthy gainers was Fibrocell Science (FCSC), which surged 60% after announcing it will be acquired by Castle Creek Pharmaceutical for a total consideration of approximately $63.3M, or $3 per share in cash. Also higher was Bitauto (BITA), which rose 8% after it received a preliminary non-binding proposal letter from Tencent (TCEHY) and Hammer Capital proposing to acquire all outstanding ordinary shares not already owned by the buyer group or their affiliates for $16 in cash per ADS in a going private transaction.
Among the notable losers was Adverum Biotechnologies (ADVM), which fell another 12% after a sharp drop yesterday. Of note, SunTrust analyst Joon Lee cut his price target on the stock to $8 from $12. Also lower was Progressive (PGR), which fell 6.5% after it reported a year-over-year decline in August earnings per share and net premiums written.
INDEXES: Near midday, the Dow was up 58.89, or 0.22%, to 27,241.34, the Nasdaq was flat at 8,194.83, and the S&P 500 was up 4.05, or 0.13%, to 3,013.62.
