The S&P and Nasdaq are sharply lower at midday, too
Stocks are starting the week on a negative note, as Wall Street weighs mixed messages on U.S.-China trade relations coming from President Donald Trump. Following last Friday's reports that he had not agreed to roll back U.S. tariffs on Chinese goods, Trump told reporters over the weekend that the "level of tariff lift is incorrect," and suggested he won't make a trade deal with Beijing unless it's a "great" one. At last check, the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJI) is down triple digits, while the S&P 500 Index (SPX) and Nasdaq Composite (IXIC) are sharply lower, as well.
Continue reading for more on today's market, including:
- Analyst: 5G woes could sink Qualcomm stock.
- The solar stock soaring on spin-off news.
- Plus, pre-earnings put volume ramps up on Advance Auto Parts; Carbonite pops on buyout buzz; and Scientific Games slumps after downgrade.
Advance Auto Parts, Inc. (NYSE:AAP) is seeing unusual options volume today, with roughly 4,500 puts on the tape so far -- 37 times what's typically seen, and five times the number of calls traded. The November 145 and 160 puts are most active, and it looks like the front-month options were used to initiate a long put spread ahead of AAP's earnings, which are due before the market opens tomorrow, Nov. 12. The stock is trading down up 0.7% today at $168.55.
Carbonite Inc (NASDAQ:CARB) is near the top of the Nasdaq on news the cloud security firm will be bought out by Canada's Open Text in an all-cash deal worth $800 million, or $23 per CARB share. CARB stock was last seen trading up 24.5% at $22.90.
Scientific Games Corp (NASDAQ:SGMS) is one of the worst stocks on the Nasdaq today, after Susquehanna downgraded the stock to "neutral" from "positive." The brokerage firm did raise its SGMS price target to $32 from $25, though this is a slight premium to last Friday's close. Today, the shares are trading down 10% at $28.42.