NASDAQ Jumps Over 2.5% in 2 Days to Close at Record High

Stocks weren’t playing around on Monday as they look to bounce back from last week’s negative performance. All the major indices were solidly higher in the session with the NASDAQ outperforming again and closing at a new all-time high.

The tech-heavy index jumped 1.55% (or practically 228 points) to 14,942, marking a third day in the green and a second straight session with an advance of more than 1%. This record close is the NASDAQ's first in over two weeks (August 5).

Elsewhere, the S&P came within 1 point of making its own history after rising 0.85% to 4479.53. However, the index did make a new intraday record. The Dow was up 0.61% (or about 215 points) to 35,335.71.

Last week was kind of a dud for stocks, especially after the Fed minutes released on Wednesday. After a strong earnings season and some solid economic data (especially for jobs), central bank members seem to be growing increasingly more comfortable with the idea of tapering asset purchases… perhaps as soon as this year.

The major indices were all lower for the five days, but a Friday rally helped to save some face. The Dow was down 1.1%, but the other indices pulled their losses well within 1%.

And if you can’t get enough of the Fed, then you’re in luck. This week is the annual Jackson Hole Economic Symposium, which will actually be virtual again due to rising delta variant cases. The meeting will be the final two days of the week with Chair Jerome Powell probably delivering remarks on Friday. Investors will be closely watching for any additional clues on the taper timeline.

Meanwhile, the final days of earnings season still bring several big reports, especially from retailers. Tomorrow includes releases from Best Buy (BBY), Nordstrom (NYSE:JWN), Urban Outfitters (NASDAQ:URBN), Advance Auto Parts (NYSE:AAP) and homebuilder Toll Brothers (TOL).

Today's Portfolio Highlights:

TAZR Trader: The market seems to hate C3.ai (AI)... but Kevin doesn’t. In fact, he thinks this innovative provider of enterprise artificial intelligence software is finally close to a bottom. On Monday, the editor bought more of AI since the company ranks high among software companies for sales growth at 33% but is cheaper than many of the high fliers on a price/sales basis. Also, EPS estimates have stabilized with no downward revisions over the past quarter. The service first bought AI back in late June after significant institutional and insider selling as the stock fell below its December IPO price near $100. Read the complete commentary for a lot more on this move, including word of an insider who may have marked the bottom with the sale of 650,000 shares last week.

Healthcare Innovators: The covid vaccine that Dynavax Technologies (NASDAQ:DVAX) developed with Medigen Vaccine Biologics finally rolled out in Taiwan recently. In fact, approximately 600,000 should get the vaccine this week. And that’s why DVAX was the top performer among all ZU names on Monday with a gain of 14.4%. Kevin added this provider of vaccine adjuvants (molecular aids for immunogenicity) back in early February, and it is now the second-best performer in the service with a surge of more than 43% over that time. This news comes at about the same time that the FDA officially approved Pfizer’s (PFE (NYSE:PFE)) vaccine here in the U.S. Editas Medicine (NASDAQ:EDIT) made the top 5 today as well with a gain of 8.25%. These two names are also the biggest winners over the past 30 days, except this time EDIT is on top with a 60% advance while DVAX is right behind with a 45.4% rise.

Black Box Trader: This week's adjustment replaced half of the portfolio. The stocks that were sold on Monday included:

• Urban Outfitters (URBN, +2.7%)
• DICK'S Sporting Goods (DKS,+1.3%)
• Avis Budget Group (NASDAQ:CAR, +0.4%)
• Textron (NYSE:TXT)
• CBRE Group (NYSE:CBRE)

The new buys that filled these spots were:

• Chubb Ltd. (NYSE:CB)
• Interpublic Group of Cos. (IPG)
• Skechers U.S.A. (SKX)
• Tempur Sealy (NYSE:TPX)
• Vertiv Holdings (NYSE:VRT)

Read the Black Box Trader’s Guide to learn more about this computer-driven service.

Until Tomorrow,
Jim Giaquinto