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Stocks End Lower After Economic Data

U.S. Market
Stocks ended lower today in choppy trading.

Home price growth slowed in July according to the S&P/Case Shiller home price index. The index showed prices rose 5.6% over the last twelve-months compared to a 6.3% rate seen in June. Markets in the South and West generally offered higher growth, but still showed signs of slowing.

Consumer confidence was down in September from August levels. The Conference Board’s consumer confidence index came in at 86.0 in the month compared to a reading of 93.4 in the previous month. Economists had expected a much more modest decline.

The Chicago Business Barometer, which measures the health of the Midwest manufacturing sector, fell to 60.5 in September from 64.3 in August. Any reading over 50 indicates an expansion.

At market close the Dow was down 0.2% while the S&P 500 and Nasdaq were each down 0.3%.

Stocks on the Move
Shares of eBay (EBAY) rose 7.5% after the firm said this morning it is planning on spinning of its PayPal business in the second half of 2015. Previously, management was reluctant to separate the businesses, saying eBay's Marketplaces provided PayPal a low-cost customer acquisition tool, data-sharing synergies, and growth capital. However, citing a rapidly evolving commerce and payment environment and PayPal's decreasing dependence on Marketplaces (less than 30% of total payment volume today and potentially less than 15% within three years, per company estimates), management believes this is the appropriate time to unwind the businesses to better capitalize on their respective growth opportunities, albeit through a number of arm's-length shared services/synergies agreements.

Walgreen (WAG) reported results for its fiscal 2014 fourth quarter that were in line with our expectations. Year over year, total revenue increased 6.2%, driven largely by a 9.3% increase in prescription sales. However, profitability remained pressured as gross margins decreased 98 basis points to 27.95% and operating margins decreased 65 basis points to 5.08% for the quarter. Shares fell less than 1% on the report.

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