Stocks saw an early boost from some optimistic comments made by Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin about his belief that there is "a path" to reaching a trade deal with China. The early gains faded as the morning wore on and the averages settled in a range near the unchanged line as investors await the trade meeting between the presidents of the U.S. and China at the G20 summit this weekend.
ECONOMIC EVENTS: In the U.S., durable orders declined another 1.3% in May after falling a revised 2.8% in April. The goods trade deficit widened to $74.5B in the advance report for May.
TOP NEWS: Shares of private prison operators Corecivic (CXW) and Geo Group (GEO) fell a respective 4.4% and 4.2% after Bank of America (BAC) vice chairman Anne Finucane told Bloomberg that the bank will stop lending to companies that operate private prisons and detention centers. "We've done our due diligence that we said we would do at the annual meeting, and this is the decision we've made," she said. In response, Geo Group said that it expects there to be no impact to its Senior Revolving Credit Facility from the move. Geo's CEO, George Zoley, added that the company "has never managed any facilities that house unaccompanied minors, nor have we ever managed border patrol holding facilities."
Shares of Micron (MU) surged 13.3% after the company reported better than expected results for its fiscal third quarter and said it plans a reduction in capital expenditures in fiscal year 2020. Analysts were mixed on the results, with Needham analyst Rajvindra Gill upgrading the stock to Buy and Morgan Stanley's Joseph Moore reiterating an Underweight rating.
In other earnings news, FedEx (FDX) shares were 2.5% higher after the parcel delivery company reported better than expected quarterly earnings. Of note, the company said on its quarterly call that its lawsuit against the U.S. government is "only peripherally" related to Huawei packages, adding that the suit is more about import and export controls administered by the Department of Commerce.
Meanwhile, shares of General Mills (GIS) fell 4.4% after it reported quarterly results and provided guidance for fiscal 2020.
In M&A news, Extreme Networks (EXTR) agreed to acquire all outstanding shares of Aerohive (HIVE) common stock at a price of $4.45 per share in cash, or an aggregate of roughly $272M. Aerohive shares skyrocketed 39.2% after the news, while Extreme closed 4.5% higher.
MAJOR MOVERS: Among the noteworthy gainers was Western Digital (WDC), which rose 7.3% after Craig-Hallum analyst Christian Schwab upgraded the stock to Buy from Hold following Micron commentary that he viewed as positive. Also higher was Owens Corning (OC), which gained 7.3% after Reuters reported that HG Vora is building a stake in the company in an effort to push it to explore options.
Among the notable losers was Care.com (CRCM), which slid 20.5% after the company announced that CFO Michael Echenberg is resigning. Also lower was AeroVironment (AVAV), which fell 8.8% after reporting quarterly results.
INDEXES: The Dow fell 11.40, or 0.04%, to 26,536.82, the Nasdaq lost 25.25, or 0.32%, to 7,909.97, and the S&P 500 declined 3.60, or 0.12%, to 2,913.78.
CoreCivic
-0.93 (-4.30%)
Geo Group
-0.895 (-4.29%)
Bank of America
+0.18 (+0.65%)
Micron
+4.34 (+13.27%)
FedEx
+3.92 (+2.51%)
General Mills
-2.39 (-4.45%)
Extreme Networks
+0.265 (+4.62%)
Hive Digital
+1.26 (+39.62%)
Western Digital
+3 (+7.30%)
Owens Corning
+3.71 (+7.29%)
Care.com
-2.93 (-20.74%)
AeroVironment
-5.53 (-9.01%)