NASDAQ Passes 7,000 To Start 2018

What a great way to kick off the New Year! The market was excited on Tuesday to get back to work and make sure that the Spirt of ’17 kept going on the first day of 2018. Two of the Big 3 indices finished at all-time highs, but it was the NASDAQ pushing past 7,000 for the first time that was most impressive. Bolstered by a strong day for technology, the index jumped 1.5% to 7,006.9.

The S&P also made history with a 0.83% advance to a new record of 2695.8. And the Dow continued its trek to 25,000 with an increase of 0.42% to 24,824.

“After a spectacular 2017, the markets picked up where they left off by putting in an impressive start to the new year with all of the major indexes in the green!” said Kevin Matras in Options Trader. “I’m expecting another great year this year. Glad to see we’re already moving in the right direction out of the gate.”

But let’s not forget that the turn of the year is also the turn of a month, which means the market will be deluged by economic data for the rest of this short week. Tomorrow we get the ISM Manufacturing Index, Construction Spending and the FOMC Minutes, while Thursday brings the ADP Employment Report. We’ll end the week with ISM Non-Manufacturing and, of course, the Employment Situation Report. And this is just some of the data being released this week.

The biggest news in the portfolios on Tuesday was the release of the Zacks Top 10 Stocks for 2018, which came out this afternoon. Make sure to follow the link below to read Sheraz Mian’s full report. Also, Counterstrike banked two double-digit winners to start things off, and then added two new positions. Black Box Trader and Short List each swapped out four names this week. Read about all this and more in the highlights section below:

Today's Portfolio Highlights:

Zacks Top 10 Stocks: The New Year brings a brand new portfolio of stocks! Sheraz Mian released the list this afternoon, which is mainly focused on two big themes: cloud computing and consumer spending. Go to the full commentary for the Overview on this year’s selections, along with links to the complete report and the Top 10 2018 video.

Counterstrike: It’s time for a little New Year’s cleaning in the portfolio, and that means cashing in a couple of double-digit winners. Jeremy sold all of Garmin (GRMN) and half of DMC Global (BOOM), securing profits of 13.9% and 18.1%, respectively. BOOM has only been in the portfolio for a little over two months, and it is well on its way to making the breakout that the editor expected. He’s holding onto half of the position as it moves toward $30.

The portfolio also added these two names on Tuesday:

• Yelp (YELP) runs a social networking community, and it shocked the market with a 1000% positive surprise in it's most recent report. Jeremy likes the company’s growth potential and believes money will flow back into the name by its next report in early February. He added it with a 7% allocation.

• Shares of Sony (SNE) have pulled back a bit after a positive earnings surprise of 66%. The editor considers this electronics giant to be a Value play that should grind higher to about $50. He bought a smaller 6% allocation and would add on any pullbacks.

The full commentary has a lot more on all of today’s moves.

Zacks Short List: The portfolio replaced four positions in its first adjustment of the year. It started by short-covering these names:

• Live Nation Entertainment (LYV, +6.3%)
• IAC/InterActive Corp (IAC)
• Tribune Media (TRCO)
• Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB)

Then they were replaced by buying these stocks:

• Ctrip.com (CTRP)
• National Oilwell (NOV)
• Semgroup Corp (SEMG)
• Vertex Pharma (VRTX)

Learn more about this emotion-free portfolio that takes advantage of falling and volatile markets by reading the Short List Trader Guide.

Black Box Trader: This week’s adjustment was run a day later because New Year’s Day fell on Monday this year. The portfolio swapped out four names, and three of the sold stocks were positive:

• HollyFrontier Corp (HFC, +6.5%)
• KBR Inc (KBR, +2.5%)
• NCI Building Systems (NCS, +0.9%)
• United Natural Foods (UNFI)

The new buys that replaced these names are:

• Cigna Corp (NYSE:CI)
• Leucadia National (NYSE:LUK)
• PBF Energy (PBF)
• Sprouts Farmers Market (SFM)

Read the Black Box Trader’s Guide to learn more about this computer-driven service designed to take the emotion out of investing.

Zacks Confidential: It looks like 2018 could be another good year for the market...but that’s no reason to get complacent. Even the most bullish of investors should do a little risk assessment and try to determine what could derail things in the New Year. Kevin Matras and John Blank are both feeling pretty good about 2018, but they’re not taking anything for granted. Therefore, in this week’s Zacks Confidential, Kevin asked John to write about the potential roadblocks that could cause problems in the months ahead. Read his detailed article and get three Top Zacks Rank stock picks by clicking: My 10 Biggest Risks in 2018.

Healthcare Innovators: It was a great 2017 for the portfolio with 21 total winners (including current open positions) out of 38 trades (open and closed) for a winning percentage of 55%! And now it starts 2018 with the first double-digit top mover of the year, as Editas Medicine (EDIT) jumped 11.4% on Tuesday. Kevin added this pharma company back in September as a “highly speculative” name. He felt this “CRISPR” stock’s long-term potential outweighs its nearer-term risk. So far, that’s exactly what has happened. In addition to being today’s top mover, it is up approximately 70% since being added.

Have a Good Evening,
Jim Giaquinto