U.S. markets roared back to life today amid better news from Greece and China, and Fed Chairwoman Janet Yellen reiterating her stance that an interest rate hike could come later this year, while also leaving the door open for circumstances to change the timing of that announcement.
Ms. Yellen also acknowledged that the July 5.3% unemployment rate does not really give an accurate read of how far away the U.S. is from a fully employed economy.
Traders were more optimistic that a settlement to the Greek crisis could be reached after Greece gave its creditors some new reform proposals to consider late on Thursday. In addition, the Chinese markets rose for the second consecutive day, temporarily reducing fears for a potential spread of their market woes to the U.S.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up as much as 250 points and along with the S&P 500, finished the day 1.2% higher. Meanwhile the Nasdaq, which has been weaker recently, was up 1.5%. All sectors were higher on the day, but especially telecommunications and financials.
Sometimes just some positive comments from famous people can really boost a stock. That’s how Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc (WBA), Delta Air Lines, Inc. (DAL) and Cablevision Systems Corporation (CVC) became 3 the best performers in the stock market today.
Walgreens Boots Alliance (WBA)
A positive note from a Deutsche Bank analyst gave WBA stock holders just the right dose of medicine today. The stock rose 4% in brisk trading of million shares, after Deutsche Bank maintained its “Buy” rating, but raised the target price of WBA stock from $89 to $95.
WBA released a good earnings report yesterday, with an increase in revenue of 48.4% year-over-year, and an almost 60% increase in its EPS.
Also boosting the stock today were bullish comments from Jim Cramer of “Mad Money” Thursday evening, saying that WBA was an innovative, well run company that will do well even in tough times.
Delta Air Lines (DAL)
The aforementioned Mr. Cramer also had positive things to say about DAL, and stated he will buy a “half position” in DAL stock before company earnings are announced this coming Wednesday. Not surprisingly, DAL stock was up more than 4% today.
Also boosting DAL stock was a report by OAG Aviation that Delta is building its West Coast seating capacity, having increased capacity in cities like Seattle, Portland, Los Angeles, and San Francisco between 7% and 35% over the past year.
The report flies in the face of the U.S. Justice Department, which has accused major airlines of colluding to reduce capacity in order to increase their prices, and Wall Street analysts who don’t believe the major airlines are able to grow their capacity. Looks like DAL may prove all of their critics wrong.
Cablevision (CVC)
Even more powerful than a favorable mention by Jim Cramer is when a French billionaire expresses interest in buying a company.
CVC stock is blistering higher today, after Patrick Drahi, who owns French telecom firm Altice SA (ATC), told the Wall Street Journal that he’s interested in possibly purchasing companies like Cablevision and Cox Communications, Inc. in order to grow the presence of Altice in the United States.
A few months ago, Altice purchased a 70% stake in Suddenlink, a cable and broadband provider. The additional purchase of CVC would continue to grow Altice by leaps and bounds.
Unfortunately for Mr. Drahi, the interview boosted CVC stock to the point where it will cost his company a great deal more to buy CVC, should that be his true intention. The stock was up over 7% on the day.
As of this writing, Ethan Roberts does not hold a position in any of the aforementioned securities.
