On The Fly: Top stock stories for Friday

Stocks opened in quiet fashion and remained that way throughout the session. For most of the session, volatility was non-existent and the news flow was slow, as is typical for a summer Friday. Investors sat on the sidelines so as not to be whip-sawed at the close amid the heavy volume from the annual rebalancing of the Russell stock index. Due to trader's repositioning their portfolios, the market experienced one of the heaviest volume sessions of the year. Oil prices moved a bit higher today, thought the commodity closed lower on a weekly basis for the fifth consecutive week. ECONOMIC EVENTS: In the U.S., Markit's flash composite PMI for June came in at 53.0, down from 53.6 in May. New home sales rose 2.9% to a 610,000 home rate in May following big upward revisions in the prior three months that made for a strong report. Baker Hughes reported that the U.S. rig count is up 8 from last week to 941 rigs. In Europe, the flash manufacturing PMI came in better than expected at 57.3, but services fell short of the consensus forecast with a reading of 55.7. In Asia, Japan's manufacturing flash PMI for June fell to 52 from 53.1 in May. COMPANY NEWS: Last night, the board of governors of the Federal Reserve released results of its supervisory bank stress tests, finding that all 34 participating bank holding companies exceed the minimum requirements in the hypothetical stress scenario. Several of the biggest financial institutions that participated include Bank of America (BAC), Citi (C), Goldman Sachs (GS), JPMorgan (JPM), Morgan Stanley (MS), and Wells Fargo (WFC), though the bigger news for those mega-cap banks will be next week's Comprehensive Capital Analysis and Review, or CCAR, announcements, which will determine how they can increase dividends and buy back stock. MAJOR MOVERS: Among the notable gainers was Synchronoss Technologies (SNCR), which jumped over 33% after it received an indication of interest from Siris Capital Group to acquire the company for $18.00 per share in cash. Also higher were AK Steel (AKS) and U.S. Steel (X), which gained 5.56% and 5.6%, respectively, after both stocks were upgraded to Buy from Hold at Deutsche Bank this morning. Additionally, Portola Pharmaceuticals (PTLA) surged 46.5% after it announced FDA approval of Bevyxxa for prophylaxis of venous thromboembolism, or VTE, in adult patients hospitalized for an acute medical illness. Among the noteworthy losers was Bed Bath & Beyond (BBBY), which dropped 12.12% after the company reported weaker than expected Q1 results. Also lower was BlackBerry (BBRY), which fell 12.21% after reporting quarterly revenues and gross margins that were below the consensus forecast. INDEXES: The Dow fell 2.53, or 0.01%, to 21,394.76, the Nasdaq gained 28.56, or 0.46%, to 6,265.25, and the S&P 500 advanced 3.80, or 0.16%, to 2,438.30.