Dow Jones Today Driven By EBAY and Ebola Scare

Dow Jones today, October 1, 2014: The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 28 points Tuesday as both domestic and global data stamped out gains fueled by increased spin-off and merger activity.

According to reports, U.S. consumer confidence slipped in September for the first time in five months, while annual home prices growth crawled in July to its slowest pace in two years, according to the S&P/Case-Shiller home price index. On the manufacturing front, the Chicago PMI showed a positive reading in September; however, growth has been fueled by rising inventories, which are climbing at their fastest pace in 41 years.

Here's what else you should know to make your Wednesday profitable:

• Mobile Surge: Yesterday, eBay Inc.(Nasdaq: EBAY) formally announced plans to spin off its PayPal division in 2015. Shares of eBay soared more than 7% on the news. PayPal, as a stand-alone division, has generated $7.2 billion in revenue over the last 12 months. The news was a boon for activist investor Carl Icahn, who launched a high-profile battle with eBay in January in an attempt to force it to spin off its payment division.

• The Daily Deal: Shares of Tekmira Pharmaceuticals Corp. (Nasdaq: TKMR) surged more than 25% in post-market hours yesterday on news that the Centers for Disease Control had confirmed the first U.S.-based case of Ebola in a Dallas, Texas, hospital. The patient is in strict isolation in the hospital. The company has been granted approval by the FDA to treat current Ebola patients with its experimental drug.

• No Blackout Dates: In a boon for advertisers and network operations, the Federal Communications Commission unanimously voted to eliminate government regulations that protect the 39-year-old rule allowing television blackouts from the National Football League. The announcement provides networks run by CBS Corp. (NYSE: CBS), Twenty-First Century Fox Inc. (Nadsaq: FOXA), and Comcast Corp. (Nasdaq: CMCSA) with the final decision on whether they will not televise games within a 75-mile radius if the football franchises fail to sell out non-premium tickets within 72 hours before kickoff. The announcement is part of a larger strategy by the NFL to shift responsibility for ticket sales and broadcasting from the league to individual team owners.

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