Stocks are rising following a second straight tame inflation reading. Following yesterday's consumer price report, today's data on producer prices also indicated that U.S. inflation pressures are modest. Meanwhile, much of the market's attention remains on Boeing (BA) as the U.S. stands out from most of the rest of the world in its continued support of the 787 MAX, which has been grounded in many countries following the recent Ethiopian Airlines crash.
ECONOMIC EVENTS: In the U.S., the headline Producer Prices Index edged up 0.1% in February, with the core up 0.1%. On a 12-month basis, PPI slowed to a 1.9% year-over-year pace from 2.0% in January, with the core slipping to a 2.5% yearly growth rate from 2.6% in the prior reading. Durable goods orders rose 0.4% in January and nondefense capital goods orders excluding aircraft bounced 0.8%. Construction spending rebounded 1.3% in January following December's revised 0.8% decline
TOP NEWS: The Federal Aviation Administration said last night that, thus far, its review shows no systemic performance issues and provides no basis to order grounding Boeing's 737 MAX, "nor have other civil aviation authorities provided data to us that would warrant action." While the U.S. and Canada had been the notable stand outs as many other countries grounded the plane, Canada has joined the rest of the world by announcing just before noon that it would also now restrict commercial use of 737 MAX 8 and 9 jets in Canadian airspace. Meanwhile, Lufthansa Group announced its Supervisory Board approved the purchase of a total of 40 "state-of-the-art" aircraft, including 20 Boeing 787-9 planes and 20 additional Airbus A350-900 planes.
Shares of Aurora Cannabis (ACB) have soared after the company appointed Nelson Peltz as a strategic advisor. Peltz, the chief executive officer and a founding partner of Trian Fund Management, currently serves as the non-executive Chairman of Wendy's (WEN) and as a director of Procter & Gamble (PG), Sysco (SYY) and Madison Square Garden (MSG). In addition to the companies he is currently engaged with, Peltz has also been involved with consumer packaging companies like PepsiCo (PEP) and Mondelez (MDLZ).
In M&A news, Brookfield (BAM) and Oaktree Capital (OAK) announced an agreement whereby Brookfield will acquire approximately 62% of the Oaktree business. As part of the transaction, Brookfield will acquire all outstanding Oaktree Class A units for, at the election of Oaktree Class A unitholders, either $49 in cash or 1.0770 Class A shares of Brookfield per unit.
MAJOR MOVERS: Among the noteworthy gainers was Rite Aid (RAD), which rose 4% after it announced a corporate restructuring and said that CEO John Standley will step down from his position. Also higher were Parateum (TEUM) and Clean Energy (CLNE), which gained a respective 27% and 25% after reporting quarterly results.
Among the notable losers was Roku (ROKU), which slid 9% after Loop Capital analyst Alan Gould downgraded the stock to Sell from Hold and Macquarie analyst Tim Nollen downgraded it to Neutral from Outperform, with both citing valuation and rising competition. Also lower were Sientra (SIEN) and Synchronoss Technologies (SNCR), which fell 25% and 17%, respectively, after reporting quarterly results.
INDEXES: Near midday, the Dow was up 183.54, or 0.72%, to 25,738.20 , the Nasdaq was up 74.10, or 0.98%, to 7,665.13 , and the S&P 500 was up 25.89, or 0.93%, to 2,817.41 .
Aurora Cannabis
+0.83 (+10.43%)
Boeing
-1.41 (-0.38%)
Oaktree Capital
+5.16 (+11.77%)
Brookfield Asset Management
-0.1 (-0.22%)
Rite Aid
+0.0264 (+3.89%)
Pareteum
+1.05 (+26.85%)
Clean Energy
+0.61 (+27.11%)
Roku
-5.01 (-7.09%)
Sientra
-2.86 (-25.11%)
Synchronoss
-1.325 (-16.07%)