Comeback Thursday

SPECIAL NOTE: Eric Dutram is moving on from Zacks to pursue other career opportunities, so today was his last time as the head of ETF Investor. The new editor will be Neena Mishra, who takes over next week.

The financial media was all abuzz on Thursday about the 30th anniversary of “Black Monday”. This morning, it looked like stocks may take a break from their record-setting ways and have a bit of a selloff in sympathy with the past…but this isn't 1987. Though the Big 3 started the session with sharp declines, two of them managed to come all the way back and keep the good times going.

“If you were trading today and you followed the #1 rule of 2017, you made some money. As a reminder that rule is BUY THE DIP!” said Jeremy Mullin in Counterstrike.

The Dow was off by more than 100 points early in the day, but by the closing bell it had gained 0.02% to 23,163. That may not seem like a lot, but it was enough to set another all-time high and stay solidly above 23K. The S&P followed the same path, rebounding from a tough morning to finish higher by 0.03% to a new record of 2562.1. The NASDAQ made a comeback too, but couldn’t make it into the green. The nearly 2.4% drop in Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) weighed heavily, and the index slipped 0.29% to 6605.1.

In the portfolios, the new Technology Innovators added 6 more names on Thursday, which makes 13 picks in all including the 7 added on Tuesday. It is now nearly half full. Large-Cap Trader was also busy, selling a couple positions (one was a double-digit winner) and buying three more. ETF Investor had 2 double-digit winners, while Surprise Trader added a position in preparation for another week of earnings season. See it all below:

Today's Portfolio Highlights:

Technology Innovators: This brand new portfolio is now just about halfway filled up after Brian Bolan added six more names on Thursday. (The first seven names were bought on Tuesday.) The new buys are:

• Apple (AAPL)
• Ichor Holdings (ICHR)
• Nutanix (NTNX)
• Netflix (NASDAQ:NFLX)
• Yelp (YELP)
• Palo Alto Networks (PANW)

From here, the editor will be adding names on a more normal schedule with only one or two buys at a time. Read tonight’s complete commentary for a lot more. Don’t forget to look at the Guide for Technology Innovators and to make sure you receive its summary emails and text alerts by choosing them on your preferences page.

ETF Investor: Eric is walking away from the portfolio with a couple of winners. He felt the service was a bit overexposed to the small/mid-cap market, so he sold PureFunds ISE Cyber Security ETF (HACK) for a 10.8% return and ProShares S&P MidCap 400 Dividend Aristocrats ETF (REGL) for a 17.5% profit. Read the complete commentary for more. Neena Mishra takes over ETF Investor next week.

Large-Cap Trader: The portfolio made several changes on Thursday, including taking profits on two names. Tyson Foods (NYSE:TSN) offered a positive guidance recently that’s keeping the chicken giant as a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). John thought this was a good time to “sell the news” and take a nice 13% profit. Also, the defensive SKF (SKFRY) just isn’t “sexy” enough for a European holding, so the editor sold it for a more than 5% gain and will look for more exciting names across the pond.

But that was just part of the action today. John also bought 4% allocations in the following three names:

• GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) is a top flight European Health Care/Pharma industry pick that checks all the boxes for what the editor wants in a $100 billion market cap stock, including a high Zacks Rank, good Zacks Style Scores, and a solid industry.

• Novo Nordisk (CO:NOVOb) (NVO) is a world leader in insulin and diabetes care. As a $121 billion stock, the rationale here is the same as with GSK. John isn’t expecting a blockbuster with this name, but a solid 10% to 15% winner.

• Lion’s Gate Entertainment (LGF.A) could potentially be “the biggest winner” of the three, according to John. The company's stock price is a few months past a solid bottom, and should be a beneficiary of Netflix’s plan to produce 80 films next year.

Read the complete commentary for more on all of today’s moves.

Surprise Trader: There’s plenty of earnings season left to come, and Dave plans on being ready. Today he picked up a 12.5% allocation in Vale SA (VALE), a Brazilian mining company that has an Earnings ESP of 63% for next Thursday’s report. Not only is this Zacks Rank #2 (Buy) turning things around, but Dave was surprised to see that the whole mining industry is in the top 5% of the Zacks Industry Rank. Read the full write-up for more and be prepared for a couple more buys earlier next week.

Options Trader: “All morning long, the financial shows obsessed over the 30 year anniversary of the Black Monday Crash of 1987. The way people were carrying on, it was almost as if they were expecting some similar calamity to befall the market again. And for no particular reason. It was almost comical watching the breathless recounting of that day and the clumsy segue into whether we could see that happen again.

“(And news-alert for the TV shows -- quit making a big to-do over a 100 point decline in the Dow. 100 points isn’t what it used to be. No need to make a fuss over less than a half percent pullback.)

”As it turns out, no crash was going to happen today. The markets soon shrugged off their meaningless pullback and they began making their way back up.

“That doesn’t mean we can’t or won’t see real pullbacks in the future. You can bet we will. But guard yourself against the nonsensical hysteria you see on TV or read about online. That goes for both the good news and the bad news.” – Kevin Matras

All the Best,
Jim Giaquinto