On The Fly: Top stock stories for Friday

Stocks opened in positive territory and with the exception of a slight dip shortly after the open were trending higher throughout the session. The strength was broad-based as each of the major averages posted gains of more than 1%. Today's advance pushed the S&P to a gain for the holiday shortened week. ECONOMIC EVENTS: In U.S. energy news, Baker Hughes reported that the U.S. rig count is up 3 from last week at 978 rigs. COMPANY NEWS: Shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) rallied 10.4% after the company's better than expected quarterly report and announcement of plans to return $7B to shareholders through FY19 in the form of share repurchases and a 50% dividend increase. The other half of the former HP, HP Inc. (HPQ), rose 3.4% following its own better than expected quarterly results... Blue Buffalo Pet Products (BUFF) advanced 17.2% after General Mills (GIS) announced an agreement to buy the pet food maker for $40 per share in cash, representing an enterprise value of approximately $8B... Nordstrom (JWN) shares jumped 6.5% after Reuters reported that the Nordstrom founding family group is finalizing plans to submit an offer to take the company private. The family met with investment banks last week and are hoping to submit an offer as soon as next month, sources told Reuters. MAJOR MOVERS: Among the noteworthy gainers was Momo (MOMO), which rose 17.1% after it reached a deal to acquire Tantan Limited in a cash and stock transaction. Higher after reporting quarterly results was Trade Desk (TTD), which surged 23.8%. Additionally, KemPharm (KMPH) rose 14% following FDA approval of Apadaz for the short-term management of acute pain for certain patients for whom other treatments are inadequate. Among the notable losers was Gogo (GOGO), which slipped 2.7% after JPMorgan downgraded the stock from Neutral, saying the shares will be "challenged" in 2018 given the rapid pace of American Airlines (AAL) de-install and the flat to down average monthly service revenue per aircraft. Also lower, after reporting quarterly results were Universal Display (OLED) and First Solar (FSLR), which fell a respective 15.8% and 6.8%. INDEXES: The Dow rose 347.51, or 1.39%, to 25,309.99, the Nasdaq gained 127.31, or 1.77%, to 7,337.39, and the S&P 500 advanced 43.34, or 1.6%, to 2,747.30.