Stocks opened lower under pressure from profit-taking after yesterday's massive rally and the weight of IBM (IBM) following its mixed earnings report. The averages spent most of the morning in negative territory but pared their losses heading into the closing of the European exchanges. By midday, the losses were gone and the market began to move higher. The averages spent the afternoon moving back and forth across the flat line before the release of the minutes from last month's FOMC meeting, which showed that some committee members believed interest rates will have to be more restrictive. That temporarily put the sellers back in control, but a late rally brought the S&P back to nearly unchanged for the day. ECONOMIC EVENTS: In the U.S., housing starts fell 5.3% to a 1.20M rate in September, which was a larger than expected decline. September building permits slipped 0.6% to a 1.24M rate. In energy news, Nymex crude oil settled down $2.17, or 3.1%, at $69.75 a barrel. In central bank news, minutes from the last Fed rate-setting meeting read that members "agreed to remove the sentence indicating that 'the stance of monetary policy remains accommodative.'" According to the minutes, Fed members believe that "accommodative" no longer provided "meaningful information." Meanwhile, a few Fed members expected that policy would need to become modestly restrictive for a time, according to the minutes. COMPANY NEWS: Shares of Netflix (NFLX) rose 5% after the streaming giant reported better than expected third quarter earnings, noting that it had 6.96M streaming net additions in the quarter. While the company provided lower than expected fourth quarter earnings guidance, it said it expects streaming net additions for the quarter to be 9.4M members, which was well ahead of the consensus forecast... Also on the earnings front, IBM shares were 7.6% lower after the company reported lower than expected Q3 revenue and maintained its adjusted earnings guidance for fiscal 2018... Additionally, shares of United Continental (UAL) rose 6% after the company reported Q3 results and raised its adjusted earnings guidance for FY18... In non-earnings news, shares of Caesars (CZR) jumped 12% after Reuters reported that Tilman Fertitta, owner of Golden Nugget Casinos, approached the casino operator about a potential merger. Subsequently, CNBC's David Faber said that Fertitta has offered $13 per share in cash and stock to acquire Caesars... Meanwhile, Shopify (SHOP) shares fell 6% after the New York Times reported that the Trump administration plans to withdraw from the Universal Post Office Treaty, which has allowed Chinese companies to ship small packages to the United States at a steeply discounted rate. MAJOR MOVERS: Among the noteworthy gainers was Akorn (AKRX), which rose 6% after Piper Jaffray analyst David Amsellem upgraded the stock to Overweight. Also higher was Cree (CREE), which gained 5% after reporting quarterly results. Among the notable losers was Campbell Soup (CPB), which slid 5% following the company's announcement that the family board members intend to vote for themselves at this year's annual meeting, in opposition to activist investor Dan Loeb's Third Point, which is pushing for change. Also lower was ADTRAN (ADTN), which fell 17% after reporting quarterly results and providing guidance. INDEXES: The Dow fell 91.74, or 0.36%, to 25,706.68, the Nasdaq lost 2.79, or 0.04%, to 7,642.70, and the S&P 500 declined 0.71, or 0.03%, to 2,809.21.
