On The Fly: Top stock stories for Friday

The major averages finished the day little changed and on a weekly basis they were mixed. The Dow saw a small weekly advance, the S&P was nearly flat and the Nasdaq suffered under the weight of Apple (AAPL), which had a rough week as reviews came out for its new iPhone 8 and Watch and the products hit stores. However, the biggest of Apple's new products, the iPhone X, is still awaited, keeping a lid on any buying frenzy that may be ahead. ECONOMIC EVENTS: In the U.S., Markit's flash manufacturing PMI for September edged up 0.2 points to 53.0, matching the consensus forecast. The services PMI fell to 55.1, however, which was down 0.9 points from the last reading and below the 55.8 that was expected. In Europe, the composite PMI hit 56.7, with the manufacturing component reading of 58.2 and services component reading of 55.6 both topping expectations. COMPANY NEWS: Shares of a number of health insurers moved higher after Republican Senator John McCain of Arizona voiced his opposition to the Graham-Cassidy bill to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act. In his statement, McCain stated: "I believe we could do better working together, Republicans and Democrats, and have not yet really tried." While some of the largest names in the space, including UnitedHealth (UNH), Aetna (AET), Anthem (ANTM) and Cigna (CI), did not see significant gains for the day, they all closed off their earlier session lows as this blow gives the legislation much slimmer chances of passing... Shares of First Solar (FSLR) advanced 5.4% after the International Trade Commission determined that silicon solar power cells being imported into the U.S. present a serious injury, or threat of injury, to the domestic industry. As a result, the ITC's investigation will move to a remedy phase, after which tariffs may be set on imported solar products... Apple slipped another 1% today as the iPhone 8 started appearing on the shelves of the company's retail stores. Compared to prior years, however, this isn't resulting in long lines, presumably because many buyers are still waiting for the company's high-end iPhone X. MAJOR MOVERS: Among the notable gainers was Finish Line (FINL), which gained 5.5% after the company reported quarterly earnings that were in-line with expectations. Also higher was Ascendis Pharma (ASND), which gained 23.4% after its competitor, Versartis (VSAR), reported that its Phase 3 trial testing a long-acting growth hormone as a treatment for pediatric growth hormone deficiency failed. Versartis, whose management reportedly indicated there was no path forward with this trial and no current plans for an additional trial, was downgraded by multiple research firms and the stock plunged 87.62%. Also lower was Intercept Pharmaceuticals (ICPT). Following a 25% decline yesterday, the stock fell another 16.4% to $61.59 today as several more analysts cut their price targets and ratings on the drugmaker in the wake of a "Dear Doctor" last week and an FDA communication yesterday that both contained warnings that Ocaliva could result in increased risk of serious liver injury and death. INDEXES: The Dow fell 9.64, or 0.04%, to 22,349.59, the Nasdaq gained 4.23, or 0.07%, to 6,426.92, and the S&P 500 advanced 1.62, or 0.06%, to 2,502.22.