The major averages have started the week on an up note, extending the rally that closed out last week as House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said on Sunday that another coronavirus stimulus plan agreement may be possible. While Democrats try to craft a smaller aid package that would cost about $1 trillion less than their initial proposal, the price is still more than Republicans have indicated they might accept. Wall Street saw four straight weeks of decline through last week, so there may be some bargain hunting at play as well.
ECONOMIC EVENTS: In the U.S., the Dallas Fed manufacturing index jumped 5.6 points to 13.6 in September, which was better than forecast.
Data from the Johns Hopkins Whiting School of Engineering shows there are now 33.15M confirmed cases of COVID-19 worldwide, including 7.12M in the U.S., and 998,696 deaths due to the disease, including about 205,000 in the U.S.
TOP NEWS: Judge Carl Nichols of the U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C. on Sunday night halted the Trump administration's ban of downloads of TikTok. The TikTok ban had been set to take effect at 11:59 p.m. Eastern time. ByteDance, TikTok's Chinese parent company, has said it reached a preliminary agreement for Walmart (WMT) and Oracle (ORCL) to acquire stakes in what will be the newly-formed TikTok Global.
Shares of Uber (UBER) are 3.5% higher near noon after Deputy Senior District Judge Tanweer Ikram granted a London Private Hire Vehicle operators license to Uber London Limited for a period of 18 months "with conditions as agreed by parties." The judge did not find any evidence of concealment on the part of Uber "as regards the driver photo fraud issue." Ikram added, "Despite their historical failings, I find them, now, to be a fit and proper person to hold a London PHV operator's licence."
Meanwhile, shares of Inovio Pharmaceuticals (INO) have plunged 27% after the company announced that the FDA placed a partial hold on the planned phase 2/3 trial of INO-4800, the company's COVID-19 vaccine candidate.
In M&A news, Devon Energy (DVN) and WPX Energy (WPX) announced they have entered into an agreement to combine in an all-stock merger of equals transaction. The exchange ratio, together with closing prices for Devon and WPX on September 25, results in an enterprise value for the combined entity of approximately $12B. Upon completion of the transaction, Devon shareholders will own approximately 57% and WPX shareholders will own approximately 43% of the combined company on a fully diluted basis.
In other deal news, Cleveland-Cliffs (CLF) announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement with ArcelorMittal (MT) to acquire substantially all of the operations of ArcelorMittal USA and its subsidiaries for approximately $1.4B. ArcelorMittal USA will be acquired by Cleveland-Cliffs on a cash-free and debt-free basis, with a combination of 78.2M shares of Cleveland-Cliffs common stock, non-voting preferred stock with an approximate aggregate value of $373M and $505M in cash. Meanwhile, Piedmont Lithium (PLL) announced that it has entered into a binding agreement with Tesla (TSLA) for the supply of spodumene concentrate from Piedmont's North Carolina deposit to Tesla, prompting the shares of Piedmont to race higher.
Amazon's (AMZN) annual Prime Day event is back on October 13-14, the company confirmed. The two-day shopping event will span the U.S., U.K, U.A.E, Spain, Singapore, Netherlands, Mexico, Luxembourg, Japan, Italy, Germany, France, China, Canada, Belgium, Austria, Australia, Turkey and Brazil.
MAJOR MOVERS: Among the noteworthy gainers was Virgin Galactic (SPCE), which rose 19% after analysts at BofA and Susquehanna initiated coverage of the stock with Buy-equivalent ratings. Also higher was Plug Power (PLUG), which gained 12% after Morgan Stanley analyst Stephen Byrd upgraded the stock to Overweight, citing the company's "rapid" growth potential.
Among the notable losers was Par Pacific (PARR), which slid 6% after Credit Suisse analyst Manav Gupta downgraded the stock to Underperform from Neutral. Also lower was Vipshop (VIPS), which fell 7% after Morgan Stanley analyst Eddy Wang downgraded the stock to Underweight from Equal Weight.
INDEXES: Near midday, the Dow was up 462.37, or 1.70%, to 27,636.33, the Nasdaq was up 110.48, or 1.01%, to 11,024.04, and the S&P 500 was up 44.72, or 1.36%, to 3,343.18.
Oracle
-0.15 (-0.25%)
Uber
+1.34 (+3.89%)
Inovio
-4.48 (-26.49%)
Walmart
+ (+0.00%)
Piedmont Lithium
+ (+0.00%)
Tesla
+12.87 (+3.16%)
Devon Energy
+1.07 (+12.15%)
WPX Energy
+0.705 (+15.86%)
Cleveland-Cliffs
+0.585 (+9.95%)
ArcelorMittal
+1.275 (+10.54%)
Amazon.com
+31.95 (+1.03%)
Virgin Galactic
+3.29 (+20.02%)
Plug Power
+1.495 (+12.84%)
Par Pacific
-0.42 (-5.99%)
Vipshop
-1.08 (-6.35%)