Fly Intel: Wall Street's top stories at midday

Stocks opened in positive territory and continued to tack on gains in the opening hour of trading. In the process, the Dow and S&P hit new all-time highs. Reports that China was prepared to take more steps to open up their country to outside investment and that it would significantly cut import tariffs provided the catalyst for the market, with several economic data points hitting new records providing another tailwind. ECONOMIC EVENTS: In the U.S., jobless claims fell 3,000 to 201,000 in the week ended September 15, marking a third week that initial claims make a new 48-year low. The leading economic indicator index rose 0.4% to 111.2 in August, which was another new record high. Existing home sales were flat at an annual rate of 5.34M in August, breaking a string of four consecutive monthly declines. The Philly Fed index bounced 11.0 points to 22.9 in September, erasing most of the 13.8 point drop seen last month. COMPANY NEWS: General Electric (GE) dropped nearly 3% in morning trading after a company executive confirmed an issue with a line of turbines, prompting an already bearish JPMorgan analyst to lower his price target on shares. GE Power CEO Russell Stokes said in a blog post on LinkedIn that the company recently identified an "oxidation issue" that impacts the lifespan of blades in its HA-Class turbines. JPMorgan analyst Stephen Tusa kept an Underweight rating on GE and cut his price target to $10 from $11, telling investors in a research note that he believes the situation is worse than what GE said and represents a negative development for a company that has little wiggle room for more "shoes to drop"... Disney (DIS) announced that ESPN+, its direct-to-consumer subscription streaming service, has surpassed one million paying subscribers in just over five months since its April 2018 launch. Meanwhile, the company is going to have its fight for Sky (SKYAY) decided this weekend as the U.K.'s Takeover Panel said it will commence a one-day auction for the British television service. Each of Sky, Comcast (CMCSA), 21st Century Fox (FOXA), and Disney, which is acting in concert with Fox, has agreed to the terms of the auction procedure, the Takeover Panel said... Shares of Under Armour (UAA) are rising after the company provided an update on its restructuring plan and announced a roughly 3% cut to its workforce. MAJOR MOVERS: Among the noteworthy gainers was Corbus Pharmaceuticals (CRBP), which surged 32% after CNBC's Jim Cramer said that the company will be appearing tonight on his "Mad Money" program to discuss its cannabis drug. Also higher was Amicus (FOLD), which gained 7% after it acquired a gene therapy portfolio of ten AAV programs for $100M. Among the notable losers was Stitch Fix (SFIX), which dropped 13% after Piper Jaffray analyst Erinn Murphy downgraded the stock to Neutral from Overweight, citing valuation and worries about Amazon (AMZN). Also lower were Thor Industries (THO) and Red Hat (RHT), which fell a respective 13% and 6% after reporting quarterly results. INDEXES: Near midday, the Dow was up 255.69, or 0.97%, to 26,661.45, the Nasdaq was up 64.77, or 0.81%, to 8,014.81, and the S&P 500 was up 21.99, or 0.76%, to 2,929.94.