The major averages traded on both sides of the flat line during a choppy day of trading as persistent concern over the virus and disappointment over the lack of additional fiscal stimulus were weighed against investors' desire to buy the market's recent dip. It looked for a period in the afternoon that stocks were locked in for a day of gains after Treasury Secretary Mnuchin noted in testimony that he hopes to restart negotiations on another fiscal relief bill with House Speaker Pelosi, who is said to be working on a new proposal, but the gains evaporated late in the session. The averages gathered themselves again following the late-day dip and finished in the green.
ECONOMIC EVENTS: In the U.S., initial jobless claims rose 4,000 to 870,000 in the week ended September 19. New home sales climbed another 4.8% to a 14-year high pace of 1.01M units in August.
TOP NEWS: Spotify (SPOT), Match Group (MTCH) and "Fortnite" creator Epic Games have joined a nonprofit group - the Coalition for App Fairness - that plans to advocate for legal and regulatory action to challenge Apple's (AAPL) App Store practices, Reuters' Stephen Nellis reported. Investors in Epic include Tencent (TCEHY), KKR (KKR), Disney (DIS), and Sony (SNE).
In M&A news, E.W. Scripps (SSP) announced a deal to buy national broadcast network ION Media for $2.65B, combining the business with Scripps' Katz networks and Newsy to create a full-scale national television networks business. As part of the agreement, Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.A, BRK.B) will make a $600M preferred equity investment in Scripps to finance the transaction. Berkshire Hathaway also will receive a warrant to purchase up to 23.1M Class A shares, at an exercise price of $13 per share. Shares of E.W. Scripps rose 7.6% following the deal announcement.
Meanwhile, Amazon (AMZN) was in focus after the e-commerce giant announced new hardware, including new Echo and Fire TV devices, as well as Luna, a new cloud gaming service. The company also introduced Ring Car Connect, an API for car manufacturers that allows customers to receive mobile alerts for detected events, watch recorded vehicle video footage, and see important vehicle information such as if the car is locked or unlocked. Ring Car Connect will first be compatible with Tesla (TSLA) vehicles, Amazon noted.
Additionally, The Information reported that ViacomCBS (VIAC) has been investigating an allegation of sexual misconduct by CEO Bob Bakish. A spokesman for the company told The Information that the investigation had concluded and that the company's findings "did not support the allegation."
MAJOR MOVERS: Among the noteworthy gainers was Owens & Minor (OMI), which rose 47.4% after it raised its fiscal 2020 guidance. Also higher was Natera (NTRA), which jumped 4.1% after multiple analysts raised their price targets on the shares, with Craig-Hallum's Alexander Nowak noting that Medicare issued a draft coverage decision that he said "put Natera further in the pole position within cancer recurrence monitoring."
Among the notable losers was Nikola (NKLA), which slid 9.7% after Wedbush analyst Daniel Ives downgraded the stock to Underperform from Neutral with a price target of $15, down from $45. Also lower was Rite Aid (RAD), which fell 17.8% after reporting quarterly results and giving guidance.
INDEXES: The Dow rose 52.31, or 0.20%, to 26,815.44, the Nasdaq gained 39.28, or 0.37%, to 10,672.27, and the S&P 500 advanced 9.67, or 0.30%, to 3,246.59.
Spotify
-3.66 (-1.56%)
Match Group
+0.46 (+0.45%)
Tencent
+ (+0.00%)
KKR
-1.05 (-3.08%)
Disney
-0.82 (-0.67%)
Symbol now SONY
+0.455 (+0.59%)
E.W. Scripps
+0.81 (+7.74%)
Berkshire Hathaway
-1543.97 (-0.49%)
Berkshire Hathaway
-0.865 (-0.41%)
Amazon.com
+21.05 (+0.70%)
Tesla
+7.34 (+1.93%)
Use PARA
+0.36 (+1.25%)
Use PARA
+0.08 (+0.26%)
Owens & Minor
+6.54 (+47.39%)
Natera
+2.41 (+3.86%)
Nikola
-2.01 (-9.52%)
Rite Aid
-2.37 (-17.74%)