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▪ Kevin Cook and Dr. John Blank Agree to Disagree on where the S&P 500 will end in 2021
▪ Kevin Matras answers questions covering Breakaway, Runaway and Exhaustion gaps in Zacks Mailbag
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▪ New stocks added to the Zacks Ultimate portfolio
▪ And much more
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The good thing about this short and boring week is that it’s almost over. All of the major indices declined for a second straight session on Thursday, while two of them now have four-day losing streaks as investors worry about the delta variant impacting growth.
The S&P slipped 0.46% today to 4493.28, while the Dow was off 0.43% (or about 151 points) to 34,879.38. These indices haven’t closed in the green since last Thursday just before the disheartening jobs report for August.
The NASDAQ held up well under these challenges early on and even reached a new record on Tuesday but has now slumped for two straight sessions. It was off 0.25% (or about 38 points) today to 15,248.25.
“The broader public equity market is yet to show any directional impetus since September began,” said Dan Laboe in Headline Trader.
“As we all know, September is historically the weakest month for equities, and precariously, market participants are determining whether the recovering economic momentum from the Delta-dent will push the stocks another leg higher or if it's time to start taking some protective measures.”
But despite all the declines in recent days, it’s important to note that volume has been very low. Stocks are still in the neighborhood of all-time highs and could possibly finish the week on positive ground with a late rally. The Dow is down by about 1.4% over the past three days heading into Friday, while the other major indices are off by less than 1%.
“Right now, the bears are in charge, but they don't have their hands tightly on the reins. The bulls could be back at any time,” said Tracey Ryniec in Insider Trader.
We received another encouraging jobless claims report on Thursday, as the print came to only 310,000. The result was better than expectations at 335K and the previous week’s 340K. It also marks another pandemic-era low, which is a welcomed development for an economy that's wondering about the health of this recovery.
Well, let’s see if the market can finally pick a direction and rally out this short week on Friday. Maybe we can still finish with gains for these four days. Weirder things have happened…
Today's Portfolio Highlights:
Insider Trader: Have you experienced any trouble buying clothes recently? Seen a lot of “sold out” signs of late? The problem is that many apparel retailers are suffering from severe supply chain issues that have many investors wondering if there’ll be enough product to match the rising demand. That’s what happened to Abercrombie (ANF), as shares plunged after its second quarter report despite “crushing” expectations and earning more in one quarter than in any year since 2013. Even with these complications though, a director bought 1000 shares on Sept 2. Tracey thinks this insider sees a bargain after the pullback. The editor added ANF on Thursday with a 10% position, though warns this is a “risky addition” that could be very volatile. In other news, Tracey also sold half of Digital Turbine (NASDAQ:APPS) for a nice 21% return in less than two weeks and all of Dollar Tree (NASDAQ:DLTR) since “it’s not going anywhere”. Read the full write-up for more on all of today’s action. Meanwhile, APPS was also a top performer today by climbing 4.8%, while ONESPAN (OSPN) made the list with a gain of 4.2%.
Blockchain Innovators: Simply put, you don’t offer wire transfer and processing services in the 21st century without blockchain. Therefore, International Money Express (NASDAQ:IMXI) is a pure play in the field, especially when you consider that the company partners with Ripple to use their On-Demand Liquidity product to send money in real time across international borders. IMXI is a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy) with a strong earnings trend that started back in the second half of 2020. Revenue growth is impressive at 24.72% this year and 12.36% next year. Dave added IMXI to the portfolio on Thursday, while also selling CalAmp (CAMP). Read the full write-up for more on today’s moves. In other news, this portfolio also had the top performer on Thursday as iClick Interactive Asia Group (ICLK) jumped 11.5%.
Headline Trader: "It was another fruitless battle between bulls and bears who have shown progressively less conviction on each side of both sides of the equation.
"All the major blue-chip indices oscillated around even for most of the day with no substantial enough catalyst to persuade market-moving institutions to gain any bullish traction, leading to a broad afternoon market spill.
"The recent market price action indicates that public equities are fully (if not more than adequately) priced at these levels. I would love to see a broader public equity dip, which would undoubtedly inspire fresh bullish capital to slingshot the markets another level higher." -- Dan Laboe
See You Friday,
Jim Giaquinto
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