Stocks opened in negative territory and saw their lows a short time after the open. The averages are all hugging the flat line as the market looks for direction. The weekly Department of Energy inventory report showed a less than expected draw down of supply, which has pushed the price of crude lower by more than 2% for the session. ECONOMIC EVENTS: In trade news, both the U.S. and China imposed a fresh round of $16B in 25% tariffs on each others' goods. In other news related to China, the country's exports were reported to rise 12.2% in July, while imports surged 27.3%, both of which topped analysts' expectations. In energy, NYMEX crude fell after EIA inventory data showed a 1.35M barrel fall in crude supplies versus the consensus call for a 2.16M barrel drawdown. COMPANY NEWS: Following yesterday's news that Tesla (TSLA) CEO Elon Musk would like to see his company go private, analysts have debated whether his desire is realistic and what exactly he meant by "Funding secured" in his initial tweet on the matter. Meanwhile, members of Tesla's board said they have "met several times over the last week" and are "taking the appropriate next steps to evaluate" Musk's desire to take the company private. Their talks with Musk, which started last week, included "discussion as to how being private could better serve Tesla's long-term interests, and also addressed the funding for this to occur," the board members stated in a press release... Disney (DIS) reported third quarter earnings and revenue that missed expectations, but CEO Bob Iger said he was "pleased with our results in the quarter...and excited about the opportunities ahead for continued growth." Echoing that sentiment, Jefferies analyst John Janedis says that while not as good as hoped, Disney's Q3 results are better than the headlines suggest and he believes there was probably enough in the quarter to keep Disney shares from moving meaningfully lower... Shares of Snap (SNAP) are slipping after the instant messaging service posted better than expected second quarter revenues but reported its first quarter-over-quarter decline in active users following Snapchat's controversial resign... Mylan (MYL) reported Q2 results that were below consensus and lowered its 2018 guidance, which it attributed to a change in expected complex product launch and utilization assumptions in the U.S., resizing of U.S. product opportunities and the negative impact on operations of the restructuring and remediation program in its Morgantown manufacturing plant. Mylan also announced that its board has formed a strategic review committee and is actively evaluating "a wide range of alternatives" to unlock the true value of its "one-of-a-kind platform." MAJOR MOVERS: Among the noteworthy gainers were 3D Systems (DDD) and Endo (ENDP), which gained a respective 31% and 30% after reporting quarterly results. Among the notable losers was Axon (AAXN), which dropped 16% after Craig-Hallum analyst Steve Dyer downgraded the stock to Hold from Buy. Also lower were Extreme Networks (EXTR) and Clean Energy Fuels (CLNE), which fell 30% and 10%, respectively, after reporting quarterly results. INDEXES: Near midday, the Dow was down 58.50, or 0.23%, to 25,570.41, the Nasdaq was down 1.84, or 0.02%, to 7,881.83, and the S&P 500 was down 1.91, or 0.07%, to 2,856.54.
