Stocks opened in positive territory and remained there throughout the entire session. The rally put the finishing touches on a tumultuous week for the White House which saw trade negotiations between the US and China end without any progress, Secretary of State Pompeo have his trip to North Korea canceled due to a lack of progress on its denuclearization efforts, and the Cohen and Manafort legal issues end with negative implications for the President. Through it all the market moved higher putting it in position to end the week with a new high for the S&P, a higher weekly close for the Dow for the seventh of the past eight weeks, and the Nasdaq closing with its third weekly higher close in the past four. Oil prices moved higher and closed above $68 a barrel on concerns of supply tightening as the Iran sanctions take hold. ECONOMIC NEWS: In the U.S., durable goods orders dropped 1.7% in July following June's 0.7% gain. In Fed news, Fed chairman Jerome Powell said in his Jackson Hole speech that there is "good reason" to expect that recent strong economic performance will continue. Powell also reiterated that gradual hikes remain appropriate is growth continues to be strong. In energy news, Baker Hughes reported that the U.S. rig count is down 13 rigs from last week to 1,044. COMPANY NEWS: Shares of HP Inc. (HPQ) were about 2% lower after the company reported third quarter results, provided guidance for the fourth quarter, and raised its fiscal 2018 earnings outlook... Gap (GPS) shares slipped 8.6% despite better-than-expected second quarter results and maintained guidance for fiscal 2018... Meanwhile, Reuters reported that Papa John's (PZZA) has hired Bank of America and Lazard as financial advisers in an effort to find ways to "stabilize" the pizza chain. Papa John's shares rose 4.6% after the news... Additionally, Arconic (ARNC) shares jumped 4.7% after Reuters reported that the company is discussing acquisition offers for the entire company. MAJOR MOVERS: Among the noteworthy gainers was Geron (GERN), which jumped 28.8% after Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) posted a job opening on LinkedIn for an "EMEA Strategic Pricing Manager" role that would "also be accountable for shaping our pricing approach for Imetelstat." J&J later told Bloomberg that the job posting was not related to the expected decision on its licensing pact with Geron. Also higher were Splunk (SPLK) and Autodesk (ADSK), which gained a respective 14.8% and 15.3% after reporting quarterly results. Among the notable losers was Acacia Communications (ACIA), which slipped nearly 7.2% after BofA/Merrill analyst Tal Llani downgraded the stock to Underperform from Neutral, saying shares have re-rated since the ZTE (ZTCOY) export ban. Also lower were Hibbett Sports (HIBB) and Foot Locker (FL), which fell 30.2% and 9.2%, respectively, after reporting quarterly results. INDEXES: The Dow rose 133.37, or 0.52%, to 25,790.35, the Nasdaq gained 67.52, or 0.86%, to 7,945.98, and the S&P 500 advanced 17.71, or 0.62%, to 2,874.69.
