Stocks are little changed near noon as investors await the Federal Reserve's rate announcement tomorrow. The central bank is widely expected to announce a quarter point rate cut, though President Trump has continued to pressure Jerome Powell and the Fed for more stimulus.
ECONOMIC EVENTS: In the U.S., industrial production bounced 0.6% in August and capacity utilization climbed to 77.9% from 77.5%. The NAHB housing market index rose 1 point to 68 in September. The FOMC began its meeting and a quarter point cut is widely expected to be announced tomorrow afternoon.
TOP NEWS: Shares of Kraft Heinz (KHC) are down 4% after the condiment and foods maker disclosed that private equity investor 3G Capital, its second largest shareholder, sold 25.1M shares of its common stock on September 16 in a transaction valued at $713M.
Corning (GLW) shares have declined 8% after the company reduced expectations for two of its business segments - Display Technologies and Optical Communications - and maintained its guidance for the other three. Within Corning's Display Technologies segment, several panel manufacturing customers have reduced utilization below anticipated levels in the current quarter, the company explained. Within Optical Communications, several major carriers are further reducing capital spending on cable deployments and fiber-to-the-home projects, Corning said.
After investors questioned its governance and path to profitability, The We Company (WE) is delaying its IPO until October at the earliest, The Wall Street Journal's Maureen Farrell reported, citing sources.
MAJOR MOVERS: Among the noteworthy gainers was Barrick Gold (GOLD), which rose 5% after it said that its Acacia Mining scheme has become effective. Also higher was Capricor Therapeutics (CAPR), which gained 7% after announcing that it will present results from the Phase II HOPE-2 clinical trial of CAP-1002 in boys and young men with Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy at the International Congress of the World Muscle Society.
Among the notable losers was Bloom Energy (BE), which fell 24% after short seller Hindenburg Research said it believes the company's technology is not sustainable and that the company uses "tricky" accounting. Also lower was U.S. Silica (SLCA), which fell 6% after its SandBox unit said it will appeal the U.S. Patent Office's decision to invalidate challenged claims in one of the patents at issue in SandBox's lawsuit against Proppant Express Investments.
INDEXES: Near midday, the Dow was down 26.44, or 0.10%, to 27,050.38, the Nasdaq was up 6.28, or 0.08%, to 8,159.83, and the S&P 500 was up 1.19, or 0.04%, to 2,999.15.
