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Spanish stocks finished off session highs Thursday after the leader of the Catalan region failed to call anticipated snap elections. Catalan President Carles Puigdemont said he wouldn’t call early elections because there was no guarantee the central government in Madrid would halt its move toward stripping Catalonia of autonomous rule, local reports said. Spain’s IBEX 35 closed up 1.9% at 10,347.80. The benchmark had jumped as much as 2.7% intraday on reports Puigdemont would call snap elections. Separatists, led by Puigdemont, earlier this month held what the central government and Spanish constitutional courts deemed an illegal independence referendum.

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The Dow Jones Industrial Average saw its gains whittled back late-morning Thursday as shares of component 3M weighed on the average. 3M Co.’s shares was cutting about 25 points from the Dow , which trimmed the benchmark’s earlier rise. The Dow was most recently trading 85 points, or 0.4%, higher at 23,413, but had been up about 130 points. A $1 move in any one of the price-weighted Dow’s 30 components equates to a swing of 6.89 points. Meanwhile, the S&P 500 index was up 0.3% and the Nasdaq Composite Index was trading little changed. Shares of 3M Co. had rallied earlier in the week, after the industrial, safety and consumer products company beat profit and revenue expectations.

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Joe Girardi, the sixth-winningest manager in New York Yankees history, will not be back for an eleventh campaign. “With a heavy heart,” the 53-year-old former catcher said in a statement, “I come to you because the Yankees have decided not to bring me back.” A club statement confirmed that decision. Girardi-led teams never finished below .500 and won one World Series and made six postseason appearances. His overall record at the team’s helm was 910-710. The Yankees came within one win of advancing to this year’s World Series.

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Shares of National Vision Holdings Inc. debuted on the Nasdaq at $28.75 at 11:05 a.m. ET, or 31% above their initial public offering price of $22. The stock was recently changing hands at $28.00, and has traded in a range of $27.66 to $29.10 since its debut. The optical retail company had priced its IPO late Wednesday, above the expected range of $18 to $20. The company offered 15.8 million shares for sale, to raise $347.6 million. National Vision plans to use the proceeds to repay debt and for general corporate purposes, which includes the payment of interest on term loans. BofA Merrill Lynch, Goldman Sachs, Citigroup and KKR Capital acted at joint bookrunning managers. National Vision has gone public at a time the SPDR S&P Retail ETF has slipped 0.4% over the past three months, while the S&P 500 has gained 3.5%.

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The Dow Jones Industrial Average on Thursday retained its grip on firm late-morning gains as the House passed a Senate-backed budget bill, clearing the way for overhaul of taxes. The budget bill was passed by a narrow margin in a 216-to-212 House vote. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up by more than 100 points, or 0.4%, at 23,430, the S&P 500 index climbed 0.3% at 2,564 and the Nasdaq Composite Index was up 0.2% at 6,578. The House vote was largely viewed as a procedural but investors have been closely watching legislation around taxes because it is seen by some as helping to power, along with corporate earnings and improved economic results, recent gain in stocks.

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Exchange-traded funds that track Spain’s equity market rose on Thursday, following reports that Catalan President Carles Puigdemont would dissolve the region’s parliament and call early elections. That move would be aimed at trying to avoid a constitutional clause being invoked by the Spanish central government to suspend the Catalan government and call early elections of its own. Had that happened, and the results had gone against Puigdemont, that could have exacerbated the recent political uncertainty in the region. The iShares MSCI Spain Capped ETF rose 1.1%, with banks and energy stocks among the biggest gainers in the portfolio. The iShares Currency Hedged MSCI Spain ETF was up 1.9%, supported by a 0.8% decline in the euro . The primary iShares fund is up about 26% thus far this year, though it has lost 1% thus far in October.

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Data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration on Thursday showed that domestic supplies of natural gas rose by 64 billion cubic feet for the week ended Oct. 20. Analysts surveyed by S&P Global Platts forecast a climb of 66 billion cubic feet. Total stocks now stand at 3.710 trillion cubic feet, down 189 billion cubic feet from a year ago, and 46 billion cubic feet below the five-year average, the government said. November natural gas fell 1.9 cents, or 0.7%, from Wednesday’s settlement to $2.90 per million British thermal units, down a bit from $2.892 before the data.

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Shares of Neos Therapeutics Inc. rocketed 42% in morning trade Thursday, after the pharmaceutical company confirmed the receipt of an unsolicited buyout bid by PDL BioPharma Inc. for $10.25 a share, and said it will respond to the bid “in due course.” The per-share bid was 40% above Neos’s stock’s Wednesday closing price of $7.30. Neos said after initially receiving PDL’s buyout proposal for $10.25 a share on July 23, Neos said its board of directors had unanimously rejected the proposal, after determining the bid substantially undervalued the company, as it did not reflect the company’s strategic value and future prospects. The company said it believes it is well positioned to continue to successfully execute its strategy to drive additional value creation in the near and long term. The stock has now run up 81% year to date, while PDL shares have climbed 42% and the S&P 500 has gained 14%.

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General Electric Co.’s stock slid 0.9% in morning trade Thursday, putting it on track to suffer the worst four-day stretch 7 1/2 years, in the aftermath of the industrial conglomerate’s rare profit miss. After rising 1.1% on Friday, after GE missed profit expectations for the first time in 2 1/2 years, the stock has now tumbled 10.6% over the past four sessions, which would be the biggest four-day percentage decline since it plunged 12.4% in the four days ending May 5, 2010. The stock is also headed toward its worst weekly performance since it plummeted 11.5% during the week ending May 15, 2009. GE’s stock has now dropped TK% over the past three months, while the SPDR Industrial Select Sector ETF has TK% and the Dow Jones Industrial Average has gained TK%.

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Exchange-traded funds that track the biotechnology sector sank on Thursday, following weak results from a major component. The iShares Nasdaq Biotechnology ETF lost 2.5% and was on track for its seventh straight daily drop. The fund has declined by 4.3% over the past month, though it remains up 18.2% for 2017. The biggest weight on the sector on Thursday was Celgene Corp. , which plummeted 19% after the company reported better-than-expected profit, but failed to meet analysts’ consensus estimates on revenue. The biotech company also lowered its 2017 outlook for profit and revenue. Among other big decliners, Gilead Sciences Inc. fell 1.3%, BioMarin Pharmaceutical Inc. was off 1.8% and Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc. was down 0.8%. The SPDR S&P Biotech ETF lost 1.8%, on track for its eighth straight daily decline, as well as its 14th drop of the past 15 sessions.

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