The markets extended its gains during the midday with the Dow soaring 140 points to 20,194. Nasdaq gained 33 points to 5,716.
Facebook partnered with Best Buy last year to offer demonstrations of Facebook's Oculus Rift virtual reality goggles. The Oculus Rift demos launched in 48 locations in May 2016 and expanded to 500 stores across the nation. Now, Facebook is closing demo stations in 200 locations. Best Buy will continue to sell the Oculus Rift headset and the handheld touch controllers.
A federal judge sided with the Justice Department and blocked Anthem's proposed acquisition of rival Cigna saying that the consolidation would reduce competition which would in turn stifle innovation. Combining Anthem and Cigna would create the largest health insurer in the nation by membership and could increase prices.
Kellogg may have to lay off up to 1,100 employees due to a change in the way it will deliver its products to stores. Instead of using distribution centers, the company will use large warehouses in order to cut costs. Third nine distribution centers with approximately 30 employees each will be closed by the fourth quarter.
In the broad market, advancing issues outpaced decliners by a margin of nearly 2 to 1 on the NYSE and by more than 5 to 2 on Nasdaq. The broader S&P 500 index gained 13 points to 2,307. Bitcoin plummeted $69 to $974.
