On The Fly: Top stock stories for Friday

Stocks opened little changed as the averages were helped by earnings from two industrial heavyweights, Honeywell (HON), and General Electric (GE). The selling picked up shortly after the open as comments regarding weakening iPhone sales and lower smartphone demand weighed on shares of Apple (AAPL). The stock has been under pressure lately and moved another leg lower with a 4% drop, putting it in negative territory for 2018. The stock put pressure on the Nasdaq and on the entire technology sector with its ripple effect. ECONOMIC EVENTS: In energy news, Baker Hughes reported that the U.S. rig count is up 5 rigs from last week to 1,013. COMPANY NEWS: Wells Fargo (WFC) shares rose 2% after the banking giant entered into consent orders with the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and Consumer Financial Protection Bureau that address matters pertaining to its compliance risk management program and issues regarding certain interest rate-lock extensions on home mortgages and collateral protection insurance placed on certain auto loans. The orders require the bank to pay $1B in total civil money penalties. As a result, Wells Fargo said it will adjust its Q1 preliminary financial results by an additional accrual of $800M, or 16c per diluted common share... On the earnings front, shares of General Electric rose 3.9% after the conglomerate reported better than expected quarterly results and reaffirmed its fiscal 2018 guidance. In addition, Reuters reported that GE is exploring merging its transportation unit with Wabtec (WAB). Wabtec shares surged 4.5% after the news... After Allergan (AGN) said yesterday that it does not intend to make an offer for Shire (SHPG), Takeda (TKPYY) raised its acquisition offer for Shire to GBP47 per share, a 7% increase from the original proposal of GBP44 per share... Shares of Mattel (MAT) were 3.6% lower after chief executive officer Margo Georgiadis decided to step down from her executive and board roles after just over a year at the company... Meanwhile, Apple shares fell 4.1%, adding to yesterday's losses after chip supplier Taiwan Semiconductor's (TSM) narrow earnings miss and weak guidance. In addition, Morgan Stanley analyst Katy Huberty said she expects the company to report in-line March quarter results but also cut her June quarter iPhone shipment estimate to 34M from 40.5M. MAJOR MOVERS: Among the noteworthy gainers was Pinnacle Foods (PF), which rose 9.75% after Jana Partners disclosed a 9.1% stake in the company, saying it believes the shares are undervalued and represent an "attractive" investment opportunity. Also higher were Limelight Networks (LLNW) and TransUnion (TRU), which gained a respective 21.7% and 10.4% after reporting quarterly results. Among the notable losers was Church & Dwight (CHD), which slipped 5.9% after Deutsche Bank downgraded the stock to Hold from Buy. Also lower after reporting quarterly results were Clearwater Paper (CLW) and Skechers (SKX), which fell 33.6% and 27%, respectively. INDEXES: The Dow fell 201.95, or 0.82%, to 24,462.94, the Nasdaq lost 91.93, or 1.27%, to 7,146.13, and the S&P 500 declined 22.89, or 0.85%, to 2,670.24.