Stocks looked in the early going like they may advance, but the major averages have pulled back near noon as the market continues to trade in a very narrow range. The latest trade headlines revolve around China granting additional wavers for domestic companies to buy U.S. soybeans and Treasury Secretary Mnuchin confirming that high level discussions involving China's Liu He will resume in the week of Oct. 7. However, Mnuchin also said in an interview on Fox Business last night that it remains the case that intellectual property is the key issue for the U.S. side, and then President Trump spent his time in front of the U.N. general assembly focusing largely on China and the trade issues with the Asian giant, which should temper some of the enthusiasm.
ECONOMIC EVENTS: In the U.S., the Case Shiller 20-City home price index rose 0.13% to 218.00 in July. The FHFA home price index increased 0.4% in July to a reading of 276.9. The Richmond Fed manufacturing index plunged 10 points to -9 in September after surging 13 points in August. The Conference Board's consumer confidence index dropped to a 6-month low of 125.1 in September from 134.2 in August
TOP NEWS: Shares of Fluor (FLR) are down 9% at midday after the company concluded its strategic and operational review and decided to divest select businesses. The company is initiating plans to sell its construction equipment rental company AMECO and its government business, and to monetize surplus real estate and non-core investments, which it sees generating over $1B in aggregate proceeds. In addition, the company plans to reduce its quarterly dividend to 10c from 21c per share, beginning with the next quarterly dividend.
Jefferies analyst Kyle McNealy upgraded Apple (AAPL) with a Buy rating and $260 price target. Under previous analyst Timothy O'Shea, the firm had a Hold rating on the shares with a $210 price target. The Street underestimates Apple's position for the 5G cycle and potential upside from additional mid-range volume driving Services expansion, McNealy told investors in a research note.
Anheuser-Busch InBev (BUD) announced the decision to proceed with the initial public offering of 1,262,350,000 shares of a minority stake of its Asia Pacific subsidiary, Budweiser Brewing Company APAC Limited, and the decision to price such offering at 27.00 HKD per share. The company expects the gross proceeds of this offering to be 39.2 billion HKD, or approximately $5B, prior to any exercise of an over-allotment option. AB InBev intends to apply all of the net proceeds from the offering to repay debt. The brewing giant had previously shelved a Hong Kong IPO of its Asia Pacific unit in July, citing market conditions.
MAJOR MOVERS: Among the noteworthy gainers was Fresh Del Monte (FDP), which rose 15% after it was named to join the S&P SmallCap 600 index. Also higher was Jabil (JBL), which gained 5% after reporting quarterly results.
Among the notable losers was R1 RCM (RCM), which slid 9% after it named Richard Evans interim CEO and provided lower than expected fiscal 2019 revenue guidance. Also lower was Blackberry (BB), which fell 20% after reporting quarterly results.
INDEXES: Near midday, the Dow was down 17.52, or 0.07%, to 26,932.47, the Nasdaq was down 54.63, or 0.67%, to 8,057.83, and the S&P 500 was down 6.07, or 0.20%, to 2,985.71.
Apple
+0.3 (+0.14%)
Fluor
-1.87 (-9.04%)
AB InBev
-2.89 (-3.00%)
Fresh Del Monte
+4.57 (+14.93%)
Jabil
+1.89 (+6.03%)
R1 RCM
-1.06 (-9.90%)
BlackBerry
-1.49 (-19.84%)