The markets traded higher during the midday with the Dow adding 9 points to 22,305. Nasdaq gained 23 points to 6,394.
Toyota Motor announced plans to invest $373.8 million in the United States to modify and update plants in order to produce the automaker's first American-made hybrid powertrain. Five manufacturing plants in Kentucky, Missouri, Tennessee and West Virginia will be expanded and modified to produce hybrid transaxles, hybrid transaxle cases and housings, 2.5-liter cylinder heads, and 2.5-liter engine blocks. Upgrades will be made to a Huntsville, Alabama plant so that engines can be built according to the company's Toyota New Global Architecture strategy that cuts the costs of developing new vehicles.
Uber will exit the Quebec market on October 14, 2017 saying that onerous regulations threatened the ride hailing app's operations. Uber had been testing its service in the French-speaking province for nearly a year as a pilot project but regulators imposed stricter conditions for the pilot to continue. Uber balked at a requirement that drivers had to undergo a 35-hour training program, which taxi drivers must complete.
Western Digital will seek an injunction with the International Court of Arbitration to block the sale of Toshiba's memory chip business to a consortium led by Bain Capital Private Equity. Western Digital and Toshiba are joint venture partners in the Yokkaichi flash memory plant in central Japan. Western Digital maintains that its must consent to any sale of Toshiba's assets.
In the broad market, advancing issues outpaced advancers by a margin of nearly 3 to 2 on the NYSE and by more than 3 to 2 on Nasdaq. The broader S&P 500 rose 3 points to 2,500. Bitcoin dropped $31 to $3,906.
