Midday Report: Evercore Hits Twitter With Downgrade; Crude Rallies Again

Stocks post slight gains as another rally in crude oil overshadows lingering concerns about the Federal Reserve and its divided opinions on interest rates.

Author:: Keris Alison Lahiff
Publish date:: Aug 18, 2016 11:52 AM EDT

Stocks posted slight gains as another rally in crude oil overshadowed lingering concerns about the Federal Reserve and its divided opinions on interest rates. Crude has climbed for the past six sessions. Data-storage company NetApp (NTAP) - Get Report soared after swinging to a profit in its recent quarter thanks to cost-cutting measures. The better-than-expected quarter pushed JPMorgan to upgrade its rating to NEUTRAL from UNDERWEIGHT. Twitter (TWTR) - Get Report was downgraded to sell from hold at Evercore. The firm said risks outweigh reward as the social networking space becomes more competitive, particularly as Snapchat moves toward monetization. Harley-Davidson (HOG) - Get Report dropped after the U.S. government sued for alleged air-pollution violations. The company sold around 340,000 of the engine tuners.