Stocks end in positive territory as Trump orders grounding of 737 MAX Stocks started in positive ground and aside from a brief dip in afternoon trading when the Dow looked like it might turn red they drifted in the green for the whole session. The brief swoon coincided with the grounding of Boeing's (BA) 737 MAX in the U.S. and some concerning trade comments from President Trump, but the pullback was short-lived and all of the major averages managed to close out the day with gains. ECONOMIC EVENTS: In the U.S., the headline Producer Prices Index edged up 0.1% in February, with the core up 0.1%. On a 12-month basis, PPI slowed to a 1.9% year-over-year pace from 2.0% in January, with the core slipping to a 2.5% yearly growth rate from 2.6% in the prior reading. Durable goods orders rose 0.4% in January and nondefense capital goods orders excluding aircraft bounced 0.8%. Construction spending rebounded 1.3% in January following December's revised 0.8% decline. In trade news, Reuters reported that U.S. President Donald Trump said that the U.S. is "not in a rush" to make a deal with China on trade. In the U.K., parliament has voted to reject a no-deal Brexit situation, according to media reports. TOP NEWS: The Federal Aviation Administration said last night that its review had shown no systemic performance issues and provided no basis to order grounding Boeing's 737 MAX. However, President Donald Trump issued an emergency order of prohibition regarding all flights of the 737 MAX 8 and 737 MAX 9 this afternoon. Subsequently, the FAA ordered the temporary grounding of Boeing 737 MAX aircraft operated by U.S. airlines or in U.S. territory, stating that it made this decision "as a result of the data gathering process and new evidence collected at the site and analyzed today" together with newly refined satellite data available to FAA this morning. Following the President's announcement, Boeing stated that it supports the action by the White House. The company noted in its statement, though, that it "continues to have full confidence in the safety of the 737 MAX." Boeing shares closed the session fractionally higher, after recovering from sharper losses earlier in the day. Shares of Aurora Cannabis (ACB) jumped almost 14% after the company appointed Nelson Peltz as a strategic advisor. Peltz, the chief executive officer and a founding partner of Trian Fund Management, is on the boards of Wendy's (WEN), Procter & Gamble (PG), Sysco (SYY) and Madison Square Garden (MSG) and has also been involved with consumer packaging companies like PepsiCo (PEP) and Mondelez (MDLZ). In M&A news, Brookfield (BAM) and Oaktree Capital (OAK) announced an agreement whereby Brookfield will acquire approximately 62% of the Oaktree business. MAJOR MOVERS: Among the noteworthy gainers were Parateum (TEUM) and Clean Energy (CLNE), which gained a respective 22.5% and 28.6% after reporting quarterly results. Among the notable losers was Roku (ROKU), which slid 14.1% after Loop Capital analyst Alan Gould downgraded the stock to Sell from Hold and Macquarie analyst Tim Nollen downgraded it to Neutral from Outperform, with both citing valuation and rising competition. Also lower were Sientra (SIEN) and Synchronoss Technologies (SNCR), which fell 28.65% and 18.8%, respectively, after reporting quarterly results. INDEXES: The Dow rose 148.23, or 0.58%, to 25,702.89, the Nasdaq gained 52.37, or 0.69%, to 7,643.41, and the S&P 500 advanced 19.40, or 0.69%, to 2,810.92. Symbols: $BA $ACB $WEN $PG $SYY $MSG $PEP $MDLZ $BAM $OAK $TEUM $CLNE $ROKU $SNCR $SIENSource: (thefly.com)