Stocks had a quiet start to what will be a busy week for corporate earnings after Citigroup (C), the first big U.S. bank to report results, posted better than expected revenue and profits. Coming up, JPMorgan (JPM), Bank of America (BAC), Goldman Sachs (GS) and Netflix (NFLX) are among companies due to report this week. Meanwhile, Bitcoin slumped briefly below $10,000 as Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin said that the Trump administration has “very serious concerns” about cryptocurrency use in illicit transactions and particularly about Facebook's planned Libra digital currency.
ECONOMIC EVENTS: In the U.S., the Empire State manufacturing index bounced 12.9 points to 4.3 in July, though that was after the index had plunged to its weakest level since October 2016 with a reading of -8.6 in June.
In China, second quarter GDP growth slowed to 6.2%, which was its lowest in at least 27 years. However, industrial production and retail sales numbers for June topped expectations.
TOP NEWS: In prepared testimony for the Senate Banking Committee, David Marcus, who oversees Facebook's blockchain efforts, said that Libra won't be offered until regulatory concerns are "fully addressed." Marcus added that Facebook has no intention of competing with sovereign currencies and said that Libra will be registered with the Treasury Department. Later in the day, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, in a press conference, said the Treasury department has "serious concerns" that Libra could be misused. Asked about President Trump's previous criticisms about Facebook, Mnuchin said the president has "legitimate" concerns about Libra and other cryptocurrencies like bitcoin, but that the president would not target any specific provider and that providers will be treated fairly and equally.
Shares of Citi (C) reported better than expected earnings and revenue for the second quarter. However, excluding an approximately $350M pre-tax gain on Citi's investment in Tradeweb (TW), earnings per share were nearer to what had been forecast by analysts.
Shares of both Gilead Sciences (GILD) and Galapagos NV (GLPG) gained after the companies announced over the weekend that they have entered into a 10-year global research and development collaboration, under which the former will invest $5.1B to raise its stake in the latter and partner with Galapagos to develop and commercialize its treatments. Shares of Gilead closed 2.7% higher following the announcement, while Galapagos jumped about 17.2%.
In other M&A news, Callon Petroleum (CPE) announced an agreement to acquire Carrizo Oil & Gas (CRZO) in an all-stock transaction valued at $3.2B. Meanwhile, Crane Co. (CR) reported that it will cease its efforts to acquire Circor (CIR) and will not extend its tender offer to acquire all outstanding shares of the company for $48 per share.
MAJOR MOVERS: Among the noteworthy gainers was Avrobio (AVRO), which rose 15% after the company announced the first kidney biopsy result and what it called "additional positive data" from two ongoing clinical trials of its AVR-RD-01 investigational gene therapy in Fabry disease. Also higher was Biohaven Pharmaceutical (BHVN), which gained 7.5% after the company announced that The Lancet published online "positive results" from a Phase 3 pivotal clinical trial of rimegepant Zydis orally dissolving tablet for the acute treatment of migraine.
Among the notable losers was Symantec (SYMC), which fell 10.7% after CNBC's David Faber reported, citing sources, that Broadcom's (AVGO) talks to acquire the company broke down this weekend over price. Also lower was Overstock.com (OSTK), which fell 9.4% after CEO Patrick Byrne released a letter to shareholders that stated in part that the company "will sell the Retail business if it makes sense and we get a good offer for a good home for it. Otherwise we will operate the retail business as though we are going to hold it forever."
INDEXES: The Dow rose 27.13, or 0.1%, to 27,359.16, the Nasdaq gained 14.04, or 0.17%, to 8,258.19, and the S&P 500 advanced 0.53, or 0.02%, to 3,014.30.
Citi
-0.02 (-0.03%)
Ticker changed to META
-0.975 (-0.48%)
Gilead
+1.83 (+2.76%)
Galapagos
+25.08 (+17.22%)
Crane
+0.62 (+0.75%)
Circor
-5.375 (-12.70%)
Callon Petroleum
-1.02 (-15.94%)
Carrizo Oil & Gas
+0.2 (+1.90%)
Avrobio
+2.115 (+14.79%)
Biohaven
+3.33 (+7.85%)
SYMC
+
Broadcom
+2.97 (+1.04%)
OSTK
+