Stocks are rising this morning as investors digest yesterday's dovish turn from the Fed and react to new headlines regarding U.S. trade negotiations with China. Among the top news are a disappointing failure in the search for a treatment for Alzheimer's, the return of an icon in denim to the public market and some better than feared guidance from a maker of memory chips.
ECONOMIC EVENTS: In the U.S., initial jobless claims dropped 9,000 to 221,000 in the week ended March 16. The Philly Fed index bounced 17.8 points to 13.7 in March, which was much stronger than expected. The index of leading economic indicators rose 0.2% to 111.5 in February
TOP NEWS: Shares of Biogen (BIIB) have plunged 29% after the company announced plans to discontinue its global Phase 3 program for Alzheimer's drug candidate aducabumab. The discontinuation comes after an independent data monitoring committee said the treatment was unlikely to meet its primary goal. BofA Merrill Lynch's Ying Huang, who is among at least ten analysts on Wall Street to downgrade Biogen so far this morning, said aducanumab's failure "probably will be the last nail in the coffin for the amyloid beta hypothesis" regarding Alzheimer's.
Shares of Apple (AAPL) are on the rise after Needham analyst Laura Martin upgraded the stock to Strong Buy as she believes the company is "most likely to prevail in a direct competition between FAANG ecosystems." Ahead of the company's March 25 event, Wedbush analyst Daniel Ives raised his price target for Apple to $215 as he views the likely announcement of a streaming video service as a "pivotal step" in further driving the tech giant's services flywheel.
Micron (MU) is up 8% in midday trading following last night's fiscal Q2 report from the memory chip maker. The company's outlook for Q3 was well below consensus on a weaker pricing environment associated with continued excess inventory across end-markets, but Mizuho analyst Vijay Rakesh raised his price target for Micron Technology to $47 from $44 saying that while the company's May quarter guidance fell significantly below consensus, it is still better than some "dire expectations"
Ford (F) announced that CFO Bob Shanks plans to retire from the company at the end of 2019. He will be succeeded by Tim Stone, a finance executive who served 20 years at Amazon (AMZN) and as CFO of Snap (SNAP).
Iconic jeans maker Levi Strauss (LEVI) made its return to the public market, pricing its initial public offering at $17.00 per share and opening for trading at $22.22 per share.
MAJOR MOVERS: Among the noteworthy gainers was Sorrento Therapeutics (SRNE), which rose 25% after B. Riley FBR analyst Andrew D'Silva raised his price target on the stock to $12 from $10.50, saying he sees "numerous" catalysts. Also higher was Darden Restaurants (DRI), which gained 7% after reporting quarterly results.
Among the notable losers were Canadian Solar (CSIQ) and Guess (GES), which fell 17% and 14%, respectively, following their quarterly reports.
INDEXES: Near midday, the Dow was up 199.53, or 0.78%, to 25,945.20 , the Nasdaq was up 78.52, or 1.02%, to 7,807.49 , and the S&P 500 was up 23.15, or 0.82%, to 2,847.38 .
Biogen
-92.1 (-28.74%)
Apple
+6.71 (+3.57%)
Micron
+3.46 (+8.63%)
Ford
+0.12 (+1.41%)
Amazon.com
+7.5 (+0.42%)
Snap
-0.07 (-0.64%)
Levi Strauss
+ (+0.00%)
Sorrento Therapeutics
+0.83 (+23.78%)
Darden
+7.58 (+6.98%)
Canadian Solar
-3.78 (-16.06%)
Guess
-3.08 (-13.94%)