Stocks opened little changed and remained near record levels for most of the session. The market proved it was resilient as it drifted in a narrow range despite the chaos created by the legal decisions of former confidantes of President Trump. With today's action, the bull market became the longest running ever. The market began to weaken following the release of the Fed's minutes from last month's FOMC meeting. The minutes showed the Fed stood ready to raise interest rates again if the economy stayed on track. The comments were made last month, prior to this week's criticism by President Trump about the Fed's interest rate policy. The Dow and S&P weakened following the release of the minutes while the Nasdaq managed to close with a slight gain. ECONOMIC NEWS: In the U.S., the MBA mortgage market index rose 4.2%, alongside a 2.9% gain in the purchase index and a 6% jump in the refinancing index for the August 17 week. Existing home sales in the U.S. slid 0.7% to 5.34M in July, falling short of forecasts. In Fed news, the Federal Reserve said it sees further gradual rate increases consistent with economic expansion, according to minutes from the latest Fed meeting. In addition, "many participants" at the meeting believed another hike would be appropriate "soon." COMPANY NEWS: Shares of Target (TGT) rose 3.2% after the retail giant reported better than expected results for the second quarter, with same-store sales rising 6.5% year-over-year in the quarter. Additionally, the company provided an outlook for the third quarter and raised its fiscal 2018 earnings guidance... Lowe's (LOW) shares also jumped 5.8% after the home improvement retailer reported better than expected Q2 results. The company also named David Denton its newest chief financial officer, cut its FY18 earnings outlook, and said it is developing plans to "aggressively rationalize store inventory." Lowe's added that it is eliminating roughly $500M in planned projects in 2018... Meanwhile, shares of Exact Sciences (EXAS) surged 30.5% after the company announced an agreement with Pfizer (PFE) to co-promote Cologuard... Additionally, Bloomberg reported that KKR (KKR) is holding talks to acquire Magneti Marelli from Fiat Chrysler (FCAU). If the sides can reach a deal, KKR would likely merge Magneti Marelli with its Japanese parts maker Calsonic Kansei, according to Bloomberg. MAJOR MOVERS: Among the noteworthy gainers was Zynga (ZNGA), which rose 7.8% after it reached a multi-year agreement with Disney (DIS) to develop a mobile "Star Wars" game. Also higher were Pure Storage (PSTG) and La-Z-Boy (LZB), which gained a respective 14.3% and 13.1% after reporting quarterly results. Among the notable losers was AT&T (T), which slid 2.1% after Wells Fargo analyst Jennifer Fritzsche downgraded the stock to Market Perform, saying she believes the stock will be range bound over the near-to-medium term and Entertainment and Enterprise pressures may persist. Also lower was Super Micro Computer (SMCI), which fell 14.7% after reporting preliminary quarterly results. INDEXES: The Dow fell 88.69, or 0.34%, to 25,733.60, the Nasdaq gained 29.92, or 0.38%, to 7,889.10, and the S&P 500 declined 1.14, or 0.04%, to 2,861.82.
