Stocks Pop on FOMC Minutes; Icahn Tweets to Apple; J.C. Penney Falls

Stocks popped Wednesday at the release of the FOMC minutes. The Nasdaq closed up nearly 2%. Investors are speculating the Federal Reserve won't be in a rush to raise interest rates on global weakness. Apple (AAPL) rose about 2% after announcing it will hold an official 'special event' on October 16th. Carl Icahn tweeted promising to send an open letter to CEO Tim Cook Thursday. J.C. Penney (JCP) fell 6% after cutting its sales outlook. Sears (SHLD) also plunged but managed to close off its low. The stock was down nearly 15% at one point after Bloomberg reported a vendor halted shipments to the store. Sears released a statement saying it has a 'significant financial flexibility' to meet its obligations. The death of Texas Ebola patient Thomas Duncan moved Tekmira (TKMR) shares higher. That's because a rival drug from Chimerix (CMRX) was used to treat Duncan. Chimerix fell at that same time of the announcement.