Stocks opened with solid gains despite the lack of any clear catalyst. Trade tensions continue to be at the forefront of investors' minds and have been providing a headwind for the market's further advance, as evidenced by the S&P having declined during every session last week. Today's volume is lighter as market participation is down due to the celebration of the Jewish New Year, or Rosh Hashanah. ECONOMIC EVENTS: In the U.S., no economic data of note was reported this morning. A report on consumer credit growth in July is expected at 3 pm ET. COMPANY NEWS: CBS (CBS) announced a settlement agreement with its parent company, National Amusements, under which the parties agreed to dismiss their pending litigation in Delaware. Additionally, Les Moonves will depart as Chairman, President and CEO, effective immediately. Moonves and CBS will donate $20M, which has been deducted from any severance benefits that may be due Moonves following the Board's ongoing independent investigation, to one or more organizations that support the #MeToo movement and equality for women. Joseph Ianniello, the media company's Chief Operating Officer, will serve as President and Acting CEO while the Board conducts a search for a permanent successor. Also, National Amusements confirmed that it has no plans to propose a merger of CBS and Viacom (VIAB) and has agreed that it will make no such proposal for at least two years after the date of the its settlement with CBS... Shares of Alibaba (BABA) have been under pressure this morning after chairman Jack Ma announced he will step down in September 2019, with CEO Daniel Zhang taking over as chairman of the board. MAJOR MOVERS: Among the notable gainers was Generac (GNRC), a provider of generators and emergency power supplies, which rose 5.5% as Hurricane Florence intensifies. Also higher was AMD (AMD), which gained 6% after Wells Fargo analyst Aaron Rakers raised his price target for the stock to $34, citing his belief in the company's ability to drive $2B-plus per year in server CPU revenue. Among the noteworthy losers was Acorda Therapeutics (ACOR), which dropped 21% after an appeals court affirmed a lower court's judgment that certain patent claims related to its Ampyra drug are invalid. Also lower were shares of Engility Holdings (EGL), which fell 3.5% after the company agreed to be acquired by SAIC (SAIC) in an all-stock transaction valued at $2.5B to create the "second largest independent technology integrator in government services." SAIC shares are down 12% following the deal announcement. Additionally, UnitedHealth (UNH) slipped 2.5% after Citi analyst Ralph Giacobbe downgraded the stock to Neutral, recommending investors take a more selective view of the managed care sector into year-end and 2019 given "some reservations" he voiced about the commercial risk market. INDEXES: Near midday, the Dow was down 10.71, or 0.04%, to 25,905.83, the Nasdaq was up 12.29, or 0.16%, to 7,914.83, and the S&P 500 was up 6.88, or 0.24%, to 2,878.56.
