We use cookies to understand how you use our site and to improve your experience. This includes personalizing content and advertising. To learn more, click here. By continuing to use our site, you accept our use of cookies, revised Privacy Policy and Terms of Service.
You are being directed to ZacksTrade, a division of LBMZ Securities and licensed broker-dealer. ZacksTrade and Zacks.com are separate companies. The web link between the two companies is not a solicitation or offer to invest in a particular security or type of security. ZacksTrade does not endorse or adopt any particular investment strategy, any analyst opinion/rating/report or any approach to evaluating individual securities.
If you wish to go to ZacksTrade, click OK. If you do not, click Cancel.
Tempting fate — it never fails to disappoint. Yesterday’s regular trading day, after I proclaimed nothing could get in the way of this latest leg of a bullish trading wave, things did. Market participants who’d been riding an enormous wave of technology looked at their year-to-date gains in companies like nVIDIA (NVDA - Free Report) , which had topped up 113%, and sold them off 10% yesterday. As for Bitcoin, I said nothing could stop it. Then one of its exchanges lost power, and the value of one Bitcoin fell more than $2000.
Well, Bitcoin has since recovered a bit and nVIDIA is trading up in today’s pre-market. In fact, the Dow, Nasdaq and S&P 500 are all up ahead of today’s opening bell. This is because, profit-taking and machine malfunctions aside, the overall bullish narrative is intact: equities continue strengthening on solid economic metrics like the labor market, consumer confidence, etc. Oil prices are well above $50 per barrel today (with a newly minted OPEC deal just hitting the newswires this morning), and geopolitical strife — rhetoric between President Trump and Kim Jong-Un notwithstanding — is at a minimum.
Ahead of today’s open, new Initial Jobless Claims came down even further: 238K claims last week is down 2000 from the upwardly revised previous week. This is solidly in the very healthy range of 225-250K we’ve enjoyed the past few years, temporary hurricane-related issues aside. Continuing claims, however, are creeping up even further: from beneath 1.9 million just weeks ago, this latest read of 1.957 million is the closest we’ve been to 2 million continuing claims we’ve seen in quite some time.
Personal Income and Spending numbers also came in this morning, with the October headline of +0.4% one-tenth ahead of expectations. Spending reached +0.3%, in-line with analysts’ consensus. These figures show that growing consumer confidence in other metrics is indeed strengthening, which is paramount to a strong holiday shopping season. So we remain hopeful a strong Q4 in both earnings and GDP will be in the offing as of early next year.
The markets can be expected to rally further should news from Capitol Hill regarding progress on tax reform/cuts be forthcoming today. Just the simple event of an actual vote on the Senate’s bill today could be interpreted as a good sign; if the GOP-led body knew they didn’t have the votes to pass it, they probably would not call the vote til next week. This would give leaders of the bill time to massage senators still in need of convincing. As of now it looks like a bit of a toss-up, with sentiment coming down on the pro-passage side.
Finally, supermarket giant Kroger (KR - Free Report) reported fiscal Q3 2018 results during today’s pre-market: earnings of 44 cents per share beat the Zacks consensus by 4 cents, and revenues of $27.75 billion easily outpaced the $27.31 billion expected. The parent company of Mariano’s, Pick ’n Save, Ralph’s and others also upped its full-year guidance to $2.00-2.05, ahead of our expected $1.97. Shares of Kroger are up 12% in today’s pre-market. Clearly someone is putting their nVIDIA profits to work elsewhere.
A medical advance is now at the flashpoint between theory and realization. Billions of dollars in research have poured into it. Companies are already generating substantial revenue, and even more wondrous products are in the pipeline.
Cures for a variety of deadly diseases are in sight, and so are big potential profits for early investors. Zacks names 5 stocks to buy now.
Image: Bigstock
OK, So Trees Don't Grow All the Way to the Sky
Thursday, November 30, 2017
Tempting fate — it never fails to disappoint. Yesterday’s regular trading day, after I proclaimed nothing could get in the way of this latest leg of a bullish trading wave, things did. Market participants who’d been riding an enormous wave of technology looked at their year-to-date gains in companies like nVIDIA (NVDA - Free Report) , which had topped up 113%, and sold them off 10% yesterday. As for Bitcoin, I said nothing could stop it. Then one of its exchanges lost power, and the value of one Bitcoin fell more than $2000.
Well, Bitcoin has since recovered a bit and nVIDIA is trading up in today’s pre-market. In fact, the Dow, Nasdaq and S&P 500 are all up ahead of today’s opening bell. This is because, profit-taking and machine malfunctions aside, the overall bullish narrative is intact: equities continue strengthening on solid economic metrics like the labor market, consumer confidence, etc. Oil prices are well above $50 per barrel today (with a newly minted OPEC deal just hitting the newswires this morning), and geopolitical strife — rhetoric between President Trump and Kim Jong-Un notwithstanding — is at a minimum.
Ahead of today’s open, new Initial Jobless Claims came down even further: 238K claims last week is down 2000 from the upwardly revised previous week. This is solidly in the very healthy range of 225-250K we’ve enjoyed the past few years, temporary hurricane-related issues aside. Continuing claims, however, are creeping up even further: from beneath 1.9 million just weeks ago, this latest read of 1.957 million is the closest we’ve been to 2 million continuing claims we’ve seen in quite some time.
Personal Income and Spending numbers also came in this morning, with the October headline of +0.4% one-tenth ahead of expectations. Spending reached +0.3%, in-line with analysts’ consensus. These figures show that growing consumer confidence in other metrics is indeed strengthening, which is paramount to a strong holiday shopping season. So we remain hopeful a strong Q4 in both earnings and GDP will be in the offing as of early next year.
The markets can be expected to rally further should news from Capitol Hill regarding progress on tax reform/cuts be forthcoming today. Just the simple event of an actual vote on the Senate’s bill today could be interpreted as a good sign; if the GOP-led body knew they didn’t have the votes to pass it, they probably would not call the vote til next week. This would give leaders of the bill time to massage senators still in need of convincing. As of now it looks like a bit of a toss-up, with sentiment coming down on the pro-passage side.
Finally, supermarket giant Kroger (KR - Free Report) reported fiscal Q3 2018 results during today’s pre-market: earnings of 44 cents per share beat the Zacks consensus by 4 cents, and revenues of $27.75 billion easily outpaced the $27.31 billion expected. The parent company of Mariano’s, Pick ’n Save, Ralph’s and others also upped its full-year guidance to $2.00-2.05, ahead of our expected $1.97. Shares of Kroger are up 12% in today’s pre-market. Clearly someone is putting their nVIDIA profits to work elsewhere.
Mark Vickery
Senior Editor
Questions or comments about this article and/or its author? Click here>>
Investor Alert: Breakthroughs Pending
A medical advance is now at the flashpoint between theory and realization. Billions of dollars in research have poured into it. Companies are already generating substantial revenue, and even more wondrous products are in the pipeline.
Cures for a variety of deadly diseases are in sight, and so are big potential profits for early investors. Zacks names 5 stocks to buy now.
Click here to see them >>