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 U.S. stocks closed at fresh record highs on Friday on revived hopes for a U.S. - China trade deal despite mixed economic data.
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 A popular exchange-traded fund that tracks the health-care sector saw its best daily return in 10 months on Friday after the Trump administration proposed new rules aimed at making health-care prices more transparent. The SPDR Health Care Select Sector ETF posted a 2.1%, marking its best day since Jan. 4, when it rose 2.98%, according to FactSet data. The Trump administration proposed a rule that would require health insurers to disclose estimated out-of-pocket costs, including negotiated rates, to patients in advance of a procedure or office visit. It also finalized a rule requiring hospitals to make transparent the prices they charge patients starting in 2021. It's possible that the stocks gained on doubts on how the rules would be enforced. "While the Trump administration's new hospital price transparency requirement is quite sweeping, the enforcement of it is quite weak - a maximum fine of $300 per day," Kaiser Family Foundation executive Larry Levitt wrote on Twitter. Shares of UnitedHealth Group Inc. , which is the largest health insurer in the U.S., and Anthem Inc. each rose roughly 5%. Shares of Tenet Healthcare Corp. and HCA Healthcare Inc. , both large hospital operators, were up at least 2%. The S&P 500 is up 24.4% year-to-date.
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U.S. stocks swept to fresh records as investors turned more bullish on a trade deal with China and focused on rosy consumer data. The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed about 222 points, 0.8%, higher, just above 28,000. The S&P 500 jumped 24 points, 0.8%, to close at about 3,120. The Nasdaq was about 62 points, 0.7%, higher at the close, at 8,541. Shares of J.C. Penney Co. Inc. jumped after beating earnings expectations for the recent quarter.
Market Pulse Stories are Rapid-fire, short news bursts on stocks and markets as they move. Visit MarketWatch.com for more information on this news.
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Aurora Cannabis stock suffers worst day in more than five years, analyst says ‘it would be fair for investors not to believe them' MarketWatchStock Market News: Buffett Makes a Surprising Buy; Aurora Weighs on Pot Stocks Motley FoolInvesting Guru Jim Simons Pours Money Into These 3 Cannabis Stocks Yahoo MoneyAurora Cannabis Joins the Pot Stock Earnings Miss Club TheStreet.com
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WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) - Business inventories in the U.S. were flat in September following a decline in August, the Commerce Department said Friday. Sales fell 0.2% in the month. The ratio of inventories to sales, meanwhile, was unchanged at 1.40. That's how many months it would take to sell all the inventory on hand. One year ago, the inventory-to-sales ratio was lower at 1.36. Flat or declining inventories are neutral or subtract from gross domestic product and usually are a sign of a weaker economy. The level of inventories in August was revised down slightly to show a 0.1% decline.
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Shares of Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. rose about 9% in afternoon trading. Earlier this week, J.P. Morgan upgraded the drugmaker to neutral from underweight, with analysts noting that Teva's "near-to-mid-term fundamentals are stabilizing." The stock is on track to close at a 6-month high. Teva's stock is down 38.72% year-to-date, while the S&P 500 is up 24% year-to-date.
Market Pulse Stories are Rapid-fire, short news bursts on stocks and markets as they move. Visit MarketWatch.com for more information on this news.
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Celgene Corp. is required to divest its most popular psoriasis treatment in order to be acquired by Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. , the Federal Trade Commission announced Friday. For Bristol-Myers to close on its $74 billion acquisition, Celgene will have to sell its drug Otezla for $13.4 billion to Amgen Inc. , the FTC said. "The Commission has ordered BMS to divest Otezla to preserve BMS's incentive to continue developing its own oral product for treating moderate-to-severe psoriasis," said FTC Chairman Joseph Simons in a statement. "The antitrust laws protect not only competition today, but competition in the future, especially when it comes to the development of new treatments for chronic conditions." The companies already anticipated the FTC's concerns and agreed to the deal back in August.
Market Pulse Stories are Rapid-fire, short news bursts on stocks and markets as they move. Visit MarketWatch.com for more information on this news.
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