Stock Market News For December 09, 2016

Markets finished at record highs again on Thursday following ECB’s announcement about trimming bond-buying volume and the continuing Trump induced rally. Meanwhile, decline in initial claims also added to the optimism. Moreover, strong gains in financials and rebound in healthcare sector also played a vital role in boosting the major benchmarks. While the Dow and S&P 500 again hit all-time record levels, the Nasdaq reached all-time high during intraday trading.

For a look at the issues currently facing the markets, make sure to read today’s Ahead of Wall Street article.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJI) rose 0.3% to close at 19,614.81. The S&P 500 increased 0.2% to close at 2,246.19. The tech-laden Nasdaq Composite Index closed at 5,417.36, gaining more than 0.4%. However, the fear-gauge CBOE Volatility Index (VIX) rose nearly 3.2% to settle at 12.60. A total of around 8 billion shares were traded on Thursday, higher than the last 20-session average of 7.8 billion shares. Advancers outpaced declining stocks on the NYSE. For 60% stocks that advanced, 37% declined.

What Factors Boosted Benchmarks?

In their policy meeting yesterday, the European Central Bank (ECB) policymakers decided that it will extend its bond-purchasing program at least until December of next year. However, they also decided to cut the volume of bond purchasing from 80 billion euros ($86 billion) per month to 60 billion euros since coming April. Meanwhile, the ECB also revised the inflation outlook for 2017 upward from 1.2% to 1.3%. Though investor’s sentiment got dampened in the early session following news of extension in the bond-purchasing program, but later it rebounded on the back of the central bank’s announcement of trimming the volume of the program.

This along with continued broad based rally following Trump’s victory in the Presidential election led financial stocks to emerge as the top gainer among broader sectors. The Financial Select Sector SPDR (XLF) gained more than 0.9% and was the biggest gainer among the S&P 500 sectors. Key stocks from this sector including The Goldman Sachs Group (NYSE:GS), Inc. (GS), Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) ( MS) and Bank of America Corporation (NYSE:BAC) (BAC) gained 2.5%, 2.2% and 1.7%, respectively.

Separately, after being dragged down by Trump’s comments on reducing drug prices on Wednesday, biotech stocks along with the broader healthcare sector made an impressive rebound yesterday. The iShares Nasdaq Biotechnology ETF (IBB) and Health Care Select Sector SPDR (XLV) gained 0.8% and 0.2%, respectively. Key stocks from this sector including Celgene Corporation (NASDAQ:CELG) (CELG), Biogen (NASDAQ:BIIB) Inc. ( BIIB) and Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (REGN) gained 0.4%, 1.5% and 2%, respectively. While Celgene and Regeneron has Zacks Rank #2 (Buy), Biogen holds a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here .

Moreover, jobless claims decreased by 10,000 from the earlier week to 258,000 for the week ending Dec 3, according to the Department of Labor. However, it came slightly higher than the consensus estimate of 256,000.

Stocks That Made Headlines

Humana (NYSE:HUM) to Write off Receivables; Updates Guidance

Humana Inc. (HUM) recently announced its decision to write off its receivables of $591 million associated with the risk corridor premium stabilization program outstanding as of Sep 30, 2016. ( Read More)

NCI Building (NCS) Lags Q4 Earnings & Revenue Estimates

NCI Building Systems Inc. (NCS) posted adjusted earnings of 28 cents per share for fourth-quarter fiscal 2016 (ended Oct 30, 2016), a 10% decline from the prior-year quarter. ( Read More)

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