US stocks were mostly higher on Friday following the Scots voting "no" on independence and as Alibaba finally began trading on the New York Stock Exchange opening at a 36% premium from its IPO price.
By the close the Dow was 0.1% higher to 17280 while the S&P 500 eased slightly to 2010.4. The NASDAQ lost 0.3% to 4580.
The economic calendar in the US was mostly bare today with only the Conference Board's index of leading economic indicators out which rose 0.2% in August below consensus expectations for a 0.4% increase.
It was also quadruple witching day on Wall Street Friday which is the expiration of individual stock options stock futures stock indexes and stock index futures. The day happens on the third Friday of March June September and December and can bring volatility.
European markets settled higher today with the FTSE 100 rising 0.3% as UK Prime Minister David Cameron said he was delighted by the result in Scotland but added that it was time for the UK to come together and move forward giving Scotland as well as England Wales and Northern Ireland more governing powers. The vote came in early this morning local time with 55% of voters rejecting independence.
Asian markets finished on an upbeat note with Japanese stocks soaring to a seven-year high following the yen's sharp drop on Scotland's independence and the announcement of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's pension reforms.
In corporate news shares of Alibaba (NYSE:BABA) which made its debut on the NYSE today was last up more than 34% after pricing its shares at the high end of its range at $68 apiece. The Chinese e-commerce company raised $21.8 billion in its IPO shattering records as the largest US IPO in history. Yahoo (NASDAQ:YHOO) which holds a large stake in Alibaba reversed earlier gains to fall over 3%.
Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) shares were mostly unchanged even as customers proved faithful with thousands lining up all over the world for the company's new release of the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus. The record demand for the bigger screen iPhones has already outstripped supply with preorders selling out last week. The two phones went on sale today in Australia Hong Kong Singapore and Japan before rolling out in France Germany Puerto Rico Canada and the US.
Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) was also a stock to watch with shares falling around 4% after the company reported a fiscal first quarter earnings miss and announced that Larry Ellison is resigning as CEO after being at the helm for more than 35 years. President Mark Hurd and CFO Safra Catz will act as co-CEOs going forward. Ellison will take over the role of chairman.
Home Depot (NYSE:HD) disclosed that information on 56 million payment cards was put at risk in a five-month cyber attack on its payment terminals.
Cloud travel and expense management software company Concur Technologies (NASDAQ:CNQR) is being bought by German software giant SAP for $129 a share in cash a 20% premium to yesterday's closing price in a deal with an enterprise value of $8.3 billion. The deal is expected to close late this year or early next. Concur shares rose 18% on Friday.
General Mills (NYSE:GIS) has announced the closing of two manufacturing plants in California and Massachusetts eliminating nearly 600 jobs. The news comes a day after the company said it would begin $100 million in new cost reductions due to slow sales.
Meanwhile McDonald's (NYSE:MCD) has raised its quarterly dividend by 5% to 85 cents per sahre while Texas Instruments (NASDAQ:TXN) has increased its quarterly dividend by 13% to 34 cents a share.
In commodities gold for December delivery dropped $10.30 or 0.8% to settle at $1216.60 an ounce losing 1.2% for the week its third straight weekly loss as a stronger dollar continued to weigh on the yellow metal.
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