Stocks opened sharply higher on optimism surrounding the trade talks with China. Even poor economic data on industrial production could not hold back the buyers, who continued to push the market up throughout the day. The advance was led by the Dow, which gained more than 1.5% and was supported by a consumer confidence reading that came in better than expected. The market completed its best week of the year as the Dow and Nasdaq finished higher for the eighth consecutive week.
ECONOMIC EVENTS: In the U.S., import prices fell 0.5% in January with export prices dropping 0.6%. The Empire State index rebounded 4.9 points to 8.8 in February. Industrial production dropped 0.6% in January, with capacity utilization sliding to 78.2%, both sharply missing estimates. The preliminary February print from the University of Michigan survey showed the consumer sentiment index was up 4.3 points to 95.5 compared to a 91.2 reading in January.
In trade news, President Donald Trump, speaking from the White House, said the trade talks with China are going "very well," adding that Chinese representatives will be coming to the U.S. in the coming week for additional talks and he plans to meet with Chinese President Xi at "some point after that." In other White House news, President Trump signed the spending bill for government agencies that will prevent a partial shutdown of the government just after midnight tonight.
In energy news, Baker Hughes reported that the U.S. rig count is up 2 rigs from last week to 1,051 rigs.
TOP NEWS: Shares of Nvidia (NVDA) gained 2% following April quarter guidance and commentary on inventory that was called "better than feared" by analysts.
PepsiCo (PEP) shares rose 3% after the snack food and beverage giant reported in-line results for the fourth quarter. Chairman and CEO Ramon Laguarta noted that the company ended the year with 4.6% organic revenue growth in the fourth quarter, adding that he is "excited about the outlook for our business."
Deere (DE), which said its quarter was hurt by higher costs for raw materials and logistics "as well by customer concerns over tariffs and trade policies," posted mixed results, with earnings that missed expectations despite revenues that topped the consensus forecast.
Rivian, an electric truck start-up sometimes compared to Tesla (TSLA), announced an equity investment round of $700M led by Amazon (AMZN). After Rivian announced the news this morning, Bloomberg reported that General Motors (GM) is still said to be in talks to invest in the company as well.
Meanwhile, the Financial Times reported that Caesars Entertainment's (CZR) board is "open" to a sale or merger, but is waiting for the right opportunity. That report followed The Wall Street Journal stating yesterday night that Carl Icahn, who owns approximately 10% of Caesars, plans to urge the company to consider selling itself after it received at least two approaches.
MAJOR MOVERS: Among the noteworthy gainers was Radian (RDN), which rose 7.5% after Bloomberg reported that Apollo Global Management (APO) and Centerbridge Partners are two investor groups that Radian had talks with last week "before discussions stalled over the terms of a potential deal." Also higher were Talend (TLND) and Arista Networks (ANET), which gained a respective 20% and 9% after reporting quarterly results.
Among the notable losers was Mattel (MAT), which slid 18% after it issued fiscal 2019 guidance at its investor day meeting. Also lower were TrueCar (TRUE) and Applied Materials (AMAT), which fell 25% and 4%, respectively, after reporting quarterly results.
INDEXES: The Dow rose 443.86, or 1.74%, to 25,883.25 , the Nasdaq gained 45.46, or 0.61%, to 7,472.41 , and the S&P 500 advanced 29.87, or 1.09%, to 2,775.60 .
Nvidia
+2.69 (+1.74%)
PepsiCo
+3.4 (+3.02%)
Deere
-3.45 (-2.12%)
Tesla
+4.43 (+1.46%)
Amazon.com
-13.47 (-0.83%)
General Motors
+0.21 (+0.54%)
Caesars
-0.26 (-2.76%)
Radian Group
+1.47 (+7.52%)
Apollo Global
+0.41 (+1.37%)
Talend
+7.44 (+19.97%)
Arista Networks
+23.06 (+9.58%)
Mattel
-3.1 (-18.32%)
TrueCar
-2.55 (-24.88%)
Applied Materials
-1.62 (-3.98%)