The major averages are lower near noon, with the S&P down about 1% and the Nasdaq lower by more than 2%, as Fed Chair Jerome Powell is on Capitol Hill for his semi-annual monetary policy report to the Congress. He has reiterated that the economy is "a long way from our employment and inflation goals, and it is likely to take some time for substantial further progress to be achieved." The recovery remains "uneven" and "incomplete," but vaccine developments suggest an improved outlook later in the year, said Powell in his prepared testimony, while also repeating that the FOMC "will continue to clearly communicate our assessment of progress toward our goals well in advance of any change in the pace of purchases."
ECONOMIC EVENTS: In the U.S., the S&P Case-Shiller 20-City home price index rose 0.8% to a new record peak reading of 240.8 in December. The FHFA home price index rose 1.1% to 313.5 in December, which was also another historic peak. The Richmond Fed's manufacturing index was flat at 14 in February. The Conference Board Consumer Confidence Index rose to 91.3 in February, up from 88.9 in January.
TOP NEWS: Shares of Home Depot (HD) are 5% lower near noon after the company's fourth quarter report. Despite beating sales and earnings forecasts, and approving a 10% increase in its quarterly dividend, Home Depot shares are sliding as the company declined to provide guidance for FY21 given remaining uncertainties related to the pandemic.
In other earnings news, Macy's (M) shares are 2% higher after the department store operator reported better than expected adjusted earnings and revenue and said its fourth quarter results "exceeded our expectations across all three of our brands."
In SPAC news, shares of special purpose acquisition company Churchill Capital Corp IV (CCIV) are sinking after it announced last night a deal to merge with high-end electric vehicle maker Lucid Motors. Bloomberg, Reuters and Wall Street Journal have all previously reported on the potential deal. The news sent some other higher-profile SPACs into negative territory, including Bill Ackman's Pershing Square Tontine (PSTH), Foley Trasimene Acquisition II Corp. (BFT), FTAC Olympus Acquisition Corp. (FTOC), Reinvent Technology Partners (RTP), CIIG Merger Corp. (CIIC), Switchback Energy Acquisition Corp. (SBE), and Forum Merger III Corp. (FIII).
In activist investor news, Reuters said Starboard Value is considering a board challenge against Box (BOX) unless the cloud services provider takes steps to boost value for shareholders, including exploring potential acquisition interest in the company. Meanwhile, Bloomberg reported that Jana Partners has nominated directors to the board of LabCorp (LH).
MAJOR MOVERS: Among the noteworthy gainers was AMC Entertainment (AMC), which rose 12% after it said it would reopen all 13 theaters in New York City starting March 5 following an announcement from New York Governor Andrew Cuomo that movie theaters will be allowed to open in the city. Also higher were Frank's International (FI) and ZoomInfo (ZI), which gained a respective 35% and 7% after reporting quarterly results.
Among the notable losers was PAVmed (PAVM), which declined 23% after pricing of its previously announced underwritten public offering of approximately 9.8 million shares of its common stock at $4.60 and announcing that its majority-owned subsidiary Lucid Diagnostics intends to spin off into a separate public company "if favorable market conditions continue to hold." Also lower were Nautilus (NLS) and Spirit AeroSystems (SPR), which fell a respective 20% and 3% after reporting quarterly results.
INDEXES: Near midday, the Dow was down 173.81, or 0.55%, to 31,347.88, the Nasdaq was down 316.15, or 2.34%, to 13,216.89, and the S&P 500 was down 36.72, or 0.95%, to 3,839.78.
Home Depot
-12.87 (-4.67%)
Macy's
+0.25 (+1.64%)
Churchill Capital Corp IV
-19.3 (-33.62%)
Ticker changed to META
+2.22 (+0.85%)
AMC Entertainment
+1.03 (+15.77%)
Fiserv
+0.88 (+25.36%)
ZoomInfo
+3.875 (+7.55%)
PAVmed
-1.2 (-21.66%)
Nautilus - now BFX
-4.61 (-17.32%)
Spirit AeroSystems
-0.91 (-2.13%)
Pershing Square Tontine Holdings
-1.15 (-3.90%)
Nikola
-1.72 (-8.23%)
Fisker
-1.65 (-9.09%)
Foley Trasimene Acquisition Corp. II
-1.14 (-6.74%)
FTAC Olympus Acquisition
-0.8 (-6.35%)
Reinvent Technology Partners
-1.52 (-10.40%)
CIIG Merger
-2.54 (-9.72%)
SBE Inc
+ (+0.00%)
Forum Merger III
-0.74 (-6.50%)
Box
+0.925 (+5.25%)
Labcorp
+4.32 (+1.77%)