Stocks are slightly higher to start the week, though the Dow is once again lagging under the weight of Boeing (BA), which is reacting negatively to media reports of increased scrutiny of the process the company went through to secure approval for the MAX 737, which has now suffered two crashes in the past six months. The week's big event will be the Fed rate setting meeting later this week as investors are eager to see if the central bank will give more clarity on how many rate hikes it expects in 2019. Meanwhile, on the trade front, a Chinese publication cited sources in reporting that a planned meeting between U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping to discuss trade face-to-face is less likely in April and may be pushed back to June.
ECONOMIC EVENTS: In the U.S., the NAHB housing market index was unchanged at 62 in March, which was a tick worse than expected.
TOP NEWS: Shares of Boeing (BA) are weak again, sliding 2% this morning after the Seattle Times' Dominic Gates reported that Federal Aviation Administration managers pushed the agency's safety engineers to delegate safety assessments to Boeing itself, and to speedily approve the resulting analysis, when initially certifying the 737 MAX. Federal prosecutors and Transportation Department officials are scrutinizing the development of Boeing's 737 MAX jetliners, which are "unusual inquiries," The Wall Street Journal additionally has reported.
Google (GOOGL) and General Motors (GM) were each in the crosshairs of President Donald Trump over the weekend. Trump said that, "Google is helping China and their military, but not the U.S. Terrible! The good news is that they helped Crooked Hillary Clinton, and not Trump....and how did that turn out?" Meanwhile, the President claimed that GM "let our Country down, but other much better car companies are coming into the U.S. in droves" in a separate line of tweets.
The management board of Deutsche Bank (DB) announced that they have decided to review strategic options with a focus on improving the growth profile and profitability of the bank. "In this context we confirm that we are engaging in discussions with Commerzbank (CRZBY)," the German banking giant announced.
In other M&A news, FIS (FIS) and Worldpay (WP) announce that they have agreed to merge to create a combined company "positioned to offer best-in-class enterprise banking, payments, capital markets, and global eCommerce capabilities empowering financial institutions and businesses worldwide." Upon closing, FIS shareholders will own approximately 53% and Worldpay shareholders will own approximately 47% of the combined company.
Shares of Marriott International (MAR) edged higher on Monday after the company announced a three-year plan to open more than 1,700 hotels around the world, return up to $11B to shareholders and report earnings of up to $8.50 per share by 2021.
MAJOR MOVERS: Among the noteworthy gainers was Edwards Lifesciences (EW), which rose 6% after it said that the SAPIEN 3 Valve proved to be superior to surgery in the PARTNER 3 trial. Also higher was Carrizo Oil & Gas (CRZO), which gained 6.5% after Bloomberg reported that it is weighting a tie-up with rival SM Energy (SM). SM Energy was 1.5% higher after the news.
Among the notable losers was BioScrip (BIOS), which slid 8% after Stephens analyst Dana Hambly downgraded the stock to Equal Weight from Overweight. Also lower was Synaptics (SYNA), which fell 20% after announcing the departure of its CEO Richard Bergman and after it cut its third quarter earnings and revenue guidance.
INDEXES: Near midday, the Dow was down 38.87, or 0.15%, to 25,810.00, the Nasdaq was up 3.41, or 0.04%, to 7,691.94 , and the S&P 500 was up 1.92, or 0.07%, to 2,824.40.
Boeing
-8.015 (-2.12%)
Deutsche Bank
+0.33 (+3.72%)
Commerzbank
+ (+0.00%)
Alphabet
-7.87 (-0.66%)
Alphabet
-5.77 (-0.49%)
General Motors
-0.34 (-0.89%)
FIS
-1.1 (-1.01%)
Worldpay
+9.48 (+9.60%)
Marriott
+2.66 (+2.18%)
Edwards Lifesciences
+11.67 (+6.49%)
Carrizo Oil & Gas
+0.76 (+6.55%)
SM Energy
+0.245 (+1.56%)
BioPlus Acquisition
-0.24 (-8.60%)
Synaptics
-8.59 (-19.89%)