Stock futures were pointing higher in early trading after the Office of U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer issued a statement following a call with Chinese representatives that both sides "see progress and are committed to" the success of the countries' trade agreement. The averages cooled a bit and turned mixed, and closed that way, with the Dow the laggard. The blue chip index was in focus less for its underperformance and more for its new membership as S&P said it was going to be replacing three constituents of the 30-member group.
ECONOMIC EVENTS: In the U.S., the Case Shiller 20-city home price index rose 0.2% to 225.1 in June and the FHFA home price index increased 0.9% to 289.9 in June. New home sales climbed another 13.9% to a 901,000 rate in July, marking the highest pace since December 2006. The Conference Board reported that its Consumer Confidence Index fell to a six-year low of 84.8 from 91.7 in July.
Meanwhile, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative said the U.S. and China "see progress" being made under the Phase One trade agreement between Washington and Beijing.
TOP NEWS: S&P announced planned changes to the Dow Jones Industrial Average, which will be effective prior to the opening of trading on Monday, August 31. As part of the blue chip index shake-up, Salesforce.com (CRM) will replace Exxon Mobil (XOM), Amgen (AMGN) will replace Pfizer (PFE), and Honeywell (HON) will replace Raytheon Technologies (RTX). S&P explained that the index changes were prompted by Apple's (AAPL) decision to split its stock, which will reduce the index's weight in the Information Technology sector, and also help diversify the index by "removing overlap between companies of similar scope and adding new types of businesses that better reflect the American economy."
In earnings news, Best Buy (BBY) shares fell 4% following this morning's Q2 results and Q3 outlook. However, Piper Sandler analyst Peter Keith recommends using today's weakness as a buying opportunity given what he sees as the company's "terrific outlook" for the second half of 2020. Meanwhile, shares of J.M. Smucker (SJM) rose nearly 7% after the company reported first quarter results that CEO Mark Smucker said "exceeded our expectations" and prompted the company to raise its FY21 outlook.
American Airlines (AAL) disclosed in a regulatory filing that it has informed staff that approximately 19,000 of its team members will be involuntarily furloughed or separated from the company on Oct. 1, unless there is an extension of the federal government's Payroll Support Program, or PSP. "The one possibility of avoiding these involuntary reductions on Oct. 1 is a clean extension of the PSP," the airline stated in its communication.
Meanwhile, The Verge reported that Epic Games has won a temporary restraining order against Apple, as U.S. Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers ruled that the tech giant can't retaliate against the "Fortnite" creator by terminating the developer account used to support Unreal Engine. In the same ruling, however, the judge determined that Apple will not be requiring to bring "Fortnite" back to the App Store, according to The Verge. Investors in Epic include Tencent (TCEHY), KKR (KKR), Disney (DIS), and Sony (SNE).
Six notable private companies filed to go public on Monday, including telehealth services provider Amwell, cloud-based data-warehousing company Snowflake, software developer tool maker Jfrog, Epic Games rival Unity Software, machine data analytics company Sumo Logic and workplace productivity start-up Asana. Meanwhile, Ant Group, an affiliate of Alibaba (BABA), disclosed Tuesday that it plans to launch an IPO in Hong Kong and Shanghai and shared some of its financial data.
MAJOR MOVERS: Among the noteworthy gainers was NIO Inc. (NIO), which rose 19% after UBS analyst Paul Gong upgraded the stock to Neutral from Sell. Also higher was Medtronic (MDT), which gained 2.5% after reporting quarterly results.
Among the notable decliners was Hain Celestial (HAIN), which slid 8% after it reported quarterly results and provided guidance for fiscal 2021. Also lower after reporting quarterly results was Children's Place (PLCE), which fell 19%.
INDEXES: The Dow fell 60.02, or 0.21%, to 28,248.44 , the Nasdaq gained 86.75, or 0.76%, to 11,466.47 , and the S&P 500 advanced 12.34, or 0.36%, to 3,443.62 .
Salesforce
+7.55 (+3.62%)
Exxon Mobil
-1.35 (-3.20%)
Amgen
+12.79 (+5.43%)
Pfizer
-0.43 (-1.11%)
Honeywell
+5.255 (+3.30%)
RTX
-0.87 (-1.41%)
Apple
-4.59 (-0.91%)
Best Buy
-4.695 (-4.00%)
J.M. Smucker
+7.73 (+6.84%)
American Airlines
-0.305 (-2.27%)
Tencent
+ (+0.00%)
KKR
-0.07 (-0.20%)
Disney
-0.86 (-0.66%)
Symbol now SONY
-0.375 (-0.47%)
Nio
+2.895 (+19.35%)
Medtronic
+2.23 (+2.22%)
Hain Celestial
-2.755 (-8.01%)
Children's Place
-4.38 (-18.80%)