Stocks opened little changed and have moved in a narrow trading range throughout the morning. The presiednt's State of the Union address last night was largely not impactful for stocks and the morning's limited economic data was also relatively uneventful. The averages have been unable to gather upside momentum this morning, but a pause is not unexpected following the market's recent run.
ECONOMIC EVENTS: In the U.S., the trade deficit narrowed 11.5% to $49.3B in November as exports dipped 0.6% and imports dropped 2.9%. Weekly DOE inventory data showed a 1.26M barrel rise in crude supplies.
COMPANY NEWS: Shares of Disney (DIS) are down about 1% near noon following last night's earnings report from the Dow member. Analysts at Morgan Stanley and Loop Capital, who each kept their Buy-equivalent ratings on Disney following the report, highlighted the doubling of ESPN+ subscriptions to 2M ahead of the launch of the company's competitor to Netflix (NFLX), dubbed Disney+, later this year.
General Motors (GM) is faring a bit better after its own earnings report, rising 1% after reporting better than expected earnings and revenue. However, GM also sounded a note of near-term caution, warning that it sees the first quarter being its weakest quarter of 2019.
Shares of video game makers Electronic Arts (EA) and Take-Two Interactive (TTWO) are both sharply lower following their issuance of worse than expected near-term guidance. Electronic Arts, which also reported worse than expected results for the holiday quarter, is down 13% near noon, while Take-Two, whose CEO said the company "crushed" the quarter, is down 11%.
Snap (SNAP) shares have rocketed 26% higher after the parent of Snapchat reported better than feared results, including daily average use that stabilized and ended a run of quarterly declines.
MAJOR MOVERS: Among the noteworthy gainers MacroGenics (MGNX), which skyrocketed 135% after it reported "positive" results from its Phase 3 SOPHIA study of margetuximab. Also higher were Plantronics (PLT) and Skyworks (SWKS), which gained a respective 15% and 12% after reporting quarterly results.
Among the notable losers was Vanda Pharmaceuticals (VNDA), which slid 19% after it filed a complaint against the FDA seeking to lift the clinical hold on its tradipitant study. Also lower were Arlo Technologies (ARLO) and Calix (CALX), which fell 45% and 25%, respectively, after reporting quarterly results.
INDEXES: Near midday, the Dow was down 33.07, or 0.13%, to 25,378.45, the Nasdaq was down 33.88, or 0.46%, to 7,368.21 , and the S&P 500 was down 6.85, or 0.25%, to 2,730.85.
Disney
-1.08 (-0.96%)
General Motors
+0.52 (+1.32%)
Electronic Arts
-12.53 (-13.54%)
Take-Two
-12.6 (-11.73%)
Snap
+1.9 (+27.03%)
MacroGenics
+14.54 (+130.87%)
Symbol changed to POLY
+5.94 (+14.88%)
Skyworks
+9.49 (+12.49%)
Vanda Pharmaceuticals
-4.83 (-19.23%)
Arlo Technologies
-3.37 (-44.34%)
Calix
-2.7 (-24.77%)