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Stocks end the day/month/quarter on a high note

Last updated: 21:40 29 Sep 2017 BST, First published: 16:40 29 Sep 2017 BST

Rising chart
  • Dow Jones average up 24 at 22,405

  • S&P 500 closes at another new high of 2,519, up 9

  • S&P has now risen eight quarters in succession

  • Valeant lifted by completion of sale of iNova business

Stocks closed out the third quarter on a high note, with the S&P 500 closing at another new high.

The S&P 500 rose 9 to 2,519 to complete the eighth quarter in a row that it has risen, with information technology and energy stocks leading the way in the third quarter.

The Dow Jones advanced 24 points to 22,405, just short of its all time high.

In Canada, the S&P/TSX also had a good day, rising 17 points to 15,635.

Mid-session: The Dow and the S&P 500 part company

The Dow Jones and the S&P 500 were going their separate ways over the lunchtime session.

The Dow Jones was down 21 at 22,360 while the S&P 500 was up 6 at 2,516.

UnitedHealth Group Inc (NYSE:UNH), down 0.7%, and Nike Inc (NYSE:MKE), down 1.6%, were the big fallers on the Dow.

Controversial drugs firm Valeant Pharmaceuticals Intl Inc (NYSE:VRX) advanced 5.2% to US$14.47 after it completed the sale of the iNova Pharmaceuticals business for US$930mln in cash.

SCANA Corporation (NYSE:SCG) tumbled 4.5% to US$48.71 as debt rating agency Standard & Poor's lowered its ratings by one notch to BBB from BBB+.

The move came after the Public Service Commission of South Carolina deferred action on the Office of Regulatory Staff's request for the principal subsidiary of SCANA Corporation to suspend revised rates collections.   

“The current level of the customer rates of South Carolina Electric & Gas Co., SCANA Corp.'s largest operating subsidiary, are in jeopardy because of the company's abandonment of two nuclear units it was building,” S&P noted.

“We are placing the ratings on CreditWatch with negative implications,” the credit rating firm added.

Open: Stocks open mixed

US stocks opened mixed, with investors banking the month's gains.

The Dow Jones was 26 points lower at 22,360; the Nasdaq Composite was 5 points higher at 6,459 while the S&P 500 was practically unchanged.

The University of Michigan's consumer sentiment index's final reading for September was 95.1, down from 96.8 in August.

Inflation data had little to get the pulses racing. The Personal Consumption Expenditures price index rose 0.2% in August, largely as a result in the rising cost of energy. The rise followed a 0.1% gain in July, and was a tad below market expectations of a 0.3% rise.

Data center firm A10 Networks Inc. (NYSE:ATEN) shot higher as it said it expects revenue for its third quarter 2017 to exceed previously given guidance.

The shares shot up 14% to US$7.61.

After-hours

Investors were tucking into Tyson Foods Inc (NYSE:TSN) in after-hours trading after the foods group raised its outlook for the year.

The group also announced plans to lay off 450 jobs, but that was not responsible for the raised profit guidance, which the company said was due to a much better than expected performance in its beef segment.

The company now expects earnings per share for the current financial year to land somewhere between US$5.20 and US$5.30 a share, which represents a 25 cent increase at both ends of the range.

Guidance for fiscal 2018 was set at US$5.70 to US$5.85 a share.

Tyson said most of the job losses would come from the corporate offices.

Shares were up 6% at US$69.38 in screen-based trading.

House builder KB Home (NYSE:KBH) did not exactly blow the roof off with its third quarter numbers, but they were good enough to warrant a 2.5% increase in the share price to US$22.22.

Earnings per share of 51 cents were five cents higher than analysts' had been expecting.

Revenue was also better than expectations at US$1.14bn; the consensus forecast had been for US$1.12bn.

The company said it built 2,765 homes in the period, which was a little above the 2,736 the market had been expecting.

The company said its operations in Texas had been affected by Hurricane Harvey, but the impact was not as severe as it might have been because the company's homes were built in newer areas that have decent drainage systems.

We'll have to wait until the next earnings announcement to learn of the impact of Hurricane Irma, as that did not hit Florida until the first week of the fiscal fourth quarter.

On the tech side of things, expensive groceries seller Whole Foods Market Inc's (NASDAQ:WFM) share price was unaffected by news that payment card information has been stolen from taprooms, restaurants and other venues located within some of its stores.

The company is in the process of being taken over by online shopping giant Amazon.com Inc (NASDAQ:AMZN).

Social media giant Twitter Inc (NYSE:TWTR) saw its shares edged 10 cents higher after the bell to US$16.95, after it said it had founds hundreds of accounts that are linked to Russian operatives.

Slightly in excess of 200 accounts were found to be linked to 470 pages and accounts on rival social media platform Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) that have links to a so-called “Russian troll farm” - an operation that systematically looks for social media postings it disagrees with and counters those views with aggressive posts – that was said to have stuck its nose in to the US presidential election.

Meanwhile, tech darling Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) said it had received highest ever number of US government national security requests for data in the first half of 2017.

Between 13,250 and 13,499 requests were received regarding 9,000 - 9,249 accounts.

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