We started Monday with real concerns about technology after two rough weeks for the NASDAQ. But by Friday, that index had blown the doors off its counterparts with a weekly gain of 1.84%. It has now made up more than half of the approximately 2.6% drop over the previous two weeks. The S&P was up 0.21% this week while the Dow advanced 0.05%.
For today’s session, oil had a nice 1% pop to a bit over $43, which helped the S&P advance by 0.16% to 2438.3. However, the Dow didn’t move much at all, declining 0.01% to 21,394.8. The NASDAQ was the big winner with an advance of 0.46% on Friday to 6265.3. Meanwhile, the Russell 2000 jumped by 0.73% to 1414.8.
“As I mentioned Wednesday I still believe the NASDAQ is in a short-term consolidation period stuck within a long-term bullish trend,” said Dave in Momentum Trader. “This week only hammered home that thesis, although after seeing the slow creep back towards the highs I’m feeling much more at ease.”
The portfolios had a nice mix of buys and sells on Friday. Surprise Trader made the biggest splash by taking profits on two double-digit winners, while selling half of a third name for another positive result. Meanwhile, Stocks Under $10 and Income Investor each bought new positions. Continue reading for more info...
Today's Portfolio Highlights:
Surprise Trader: The portfolio went to the bank on Friday with three profitable sells...including two double digit winners! Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) and Caterpillar (NYSE:CAT) are both right at their time limits, so Eric decided to sell them and take gains of 11.7% and 10.3%, respectively. The editor added these positions about two months ago, right before they reported solid quarterly reports. Meanwhile, with the commodity market being so choppy of late, Eric also sold half of the Deere (DE) position for an 8% profit.
Stocks Under $10: Brian has been talking a lot about diversification lately, which is one of the reasons why he bought the goldminer Iamgold (IAG (LON:ICAG)) on Friday. But the other reason he picked up this Zacks Rank #1 was to get a little more defensive in the portfolio. The editor feels that the market's "check engine soon" light may be on right now, and he wants to play it a little safe. IAG has posted two big beats in the past four quarters (along with two meets) and should turn the corner into profitability next year. The full write-up has a lot more on this new addition.
Income Investor: For the second year in a row, H&R Block (NYSE:HRB) made a significant increase in its quarterly dividend. It was raised by 9% to 24 cents per share, as the tax services provider also repurchased shares worth $317 million. This all came in a quarter where HRB beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate by more than 7%. Neena liked the company’s quarter, and it doesn’t hurt that this Zacks Rank #1 also has a Zacks VGM Score of A and is part of a space in the top 17% of the Zacks Industry Rank. As announced yesterday, the editor decided to add HRB to the portfolio on Friday. Read more in the full write-up.
Healthcare Innovators: Remember earlier this week when the portfolio dominated the top performers list with four out of the top five movers? Well, HI did it again on Friday! But this time it had TWO double digit performers in ReWalk Robotics (RWLK, +33.3%) and Immune Design Corp. (IMDZ, +14.2%). Other top movers included Epizyme (EPZM, +7.7%) and Juno Therapeutics (JUNO, +7.5%).
Have a Great Weekend!
Jim Giaquinto
One More Thing...
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