Be careful what you wish for America, like gasoline at less than $2 per gallon. You might just get it, but create a slowing of economic growth along with it.
That was the Federal Reserve’s basic message to Wall Street today in its Beige Book” economic review, and it definitely spooked the markets. The Dallas Fed warned that Texas energy companies are now projecting hiring freezes and layoffs due to a slowing in demand for oil.
A drop in copper prices over 5% intraday also rattled the markets. Completing the bad news trifecta was the Commerce Department’s retail sales report showing that retail spending was off 0.9% for December.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell more than 345 points by mid-afternoon before paring almost half of that back, to finish down 1% for the day. The S&P 500 fared a bit better, off nearly 0.6%, while the Nasdaq Composite shed nearly 0.5%.
Utilities were the best performing sector today, and energy stocks rallied near the end of the day as oil prices moved higher.
Despite the volatility, Gamestop Corp. (GME), U.S. Silica Holdings Inc (SLCA), and Ziopharm Oncology Inc (ZIOP) were three stocks that ignored the volatility and stormed up on strong volume.
Gamestop Corp. (GME)
GME stock bucked the trend of the retail numbers, blistering up well over 10% amid word that its video game software sales were strong during the holiday season, rising 5.8% during the nine-week period. Much of that was driven by soaring sales of Microsoft Corporation’s (MSFT) Xbox One and Sony Corp (ADR)’s (SNE) PlayStation 4.
Because GME’s November software sales numbers were weak, analysts were expecting a possible decline again in December.
In addition, GME stock was upgraded by Pacific Crest from underperform to outperform, and that also boosted the shares.
U.S. Silica Holdings Inc (SLCA)
Wells Fargo issued a market perform rating on SLCA stock today, sending the Voca, Texas, manufacturer of silica products higher by 8%. The average price target from 11 different analysts who are covering SLCA is $57.46, and SLCA stock is currently trading just below $26.
SLCA has also recently announced that the board of directors has decided to use company cash to increase its share repurchase program from $25 million to up to $50 million over the next year.
ZIOPHARM Oncology Inc (ZIOP)
Another day, and another biopharm company takes off. ZIOP stock gapped up more than 54% amid word that it has partnered with Intrexon Corp (XON) in a licensing agreement with the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center to develop non-viral adoptive cellular cancer immunotherapies.
CEO Jonathan Lewis was to present more details of the deal at the 33rd annual J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference today in San Francisco.
ZIOP stock, which traded for only $2.50 per share in October, finished the day at $8.88.
