Stocks drifted throughout most of the session as investors continue to count down until the start of the third quarter earnings season. Although a few major banks will report over the next couple of days, the reporting will begin in earnest next week. The averages built some upward momentum after the Fed released the minutes from last month's FOMC meeting and following a report that claimed Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin is "strongly pushing" for President Trump to pick current Federal Reserve governor Jerome Powell as the next chair of the central bank. ECONOMIC EVENTS: In the U.S., the JOLTS report showed job opening declined 58,000 to 6.08M in August. In Fed news, the FOMC meeting minutes showed that "many" committee members saw another rate hike was warranted, while a smaller number thought action could wait. In addition, several believed that further tightening should hinge on incoming data, though it was acknowledged that Hurricanes Harvey, Irma, and Maria would impact economic activity. COMPANY NEWS: Shares of Kroger (KR) gained 1% after the company announced in conjunction with its investor day meeting that it will explore strategic alternatives for its convenience store business, including a potential sale. Kroger also backed its FY17 adjusted earnings view and said that it is "striving for" EPS to be flat to slightly higher in FY18... Delta (DAL) shares rose about 1% after the airline operator reported revenue and profit that was better than expected for the third quarter despite challenges that included multiple hurricanes and the Mexican earthquake... Meanwhile, shares of 21st Century Fox (FOXA) dipped 2.5% after the U.S. Men's National Soccer Team failed to qualify for the 2018 World Cup. Fox Sports had agreed to pay $400M to secure English-broadcast rights to the 2018 and 2022 World Cup, but the broadcasts are expected to be less valuable after the loss. Though the company stated that it remains committed to airing the World Cup games, Bloomberg reported that the sports subsidiary estimates lower ad sales as a result of the U.S. team's absence... In other media news, President Donald Trump tweeted earlier, "With all of the Fake News Coming out of NBC and the Networks, at what point is it appropriate to challenge their License? Bad for country!" Following the tweet, National Association of Broadcasters CEO Gordon Smith said that it is "contrary" to the First Amendment to threaten TV license renewals. The owners of the "big 4" broadcast networks are Comcast (CMCSA), Disney (DIS), CBS (CBS) and 21st Century Fox. MAJOR MOVERS: Among the noteworthy gainers was Pretium Resources (PVG), which jumped 25% and was upgraded to Outperform at Scotiabank following the company's third quarter production update. Also higher was Aerie Pharmaceuticals (AERI), which gained 16% after the FDA posted briefing documents ahead of a meeting to discuss the company's Rhopressa treatment for open-angle glaucoma or ocular hypertension. Among the notable losers was Barracuda Networks (CUDA), which fell 12% after reporting quarterly results and providing guidance for the third quarter. Also lower was MannKind (MNKD), which dropped 18.5% after announcing agreements to sell 10.17M shares at $6.00 per share in a registered direct offering. INDEXES: The Dow rose 42.21, or 0.18%, to 22,872.89, the Nasdaq gained 16.30, or 0.25%, to 6,603.55, and the S&P 500 advanced 4.60, or 0.18%, to 2,555.24.
