U.S. markets continued their recent selloff today, even after some good economic reports, as investors remained worried about Fed activity, not to mention the future of oil prices and another 3% drop in the Chinese market.
Big-name stocks, such as Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL), Walt Disney Co (NYSE:DIS), and Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) were hit particularly hard.
But the news wasn’t all bad. U.S. jobless claims rose to 277,000, and the National Association of Realtors said that existing home sales were up 2% to 5.59 million annual units, a new eight-year high, and above the street’s expectations for 5.45 million. But the major indices sunk, and the selling only grew worse as the afternoon went on. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell more than 350 points, losing 2%, while the S&P 500 was off 2.1%. The Nasdaq was weakest of all, falling 2.8%. All sectors were once again in the red.
But even still, a few issues shone brightly through the day. Eli Lilly and Co (NYSE:LLY), Lumber Liquidators Holdings Inc (NYSE:LL) and Barrick Gold Corporation (USA) (NYSE:ABX) are three of today’s best stocks, after analyst upgrades and some good clinical results sent them soaring. Here’s the scoop.
Eli Lilly and Co (LLY)
LLY stock gained more than 4% today after it was reported that Jardiance, Lilly’s drug for Type 2 Diabetes, has now shown the ability to improve heart health in Diabetic patients who are at high risk for cardiovascular episodes and strokes.
The drug was administered to more than 7,000 high-risk Diabetic patients and showed positive results in preventing heart attacks and other heart difficulties over a lengthy term.
LLY stock has gained 27% in 2015, crushing the broader market.
Lumber Liquidators Holdings Inc (LL)
Lumber Liquidators, which has seen more than its share of controversy this past year, blistered almost 9% higher after an upgrade from Cantor Fitzgerald & Co Inc to “buy” from “hold.” Cantor Fitzgerald also increased the target price on LL stock from $15 to $18 per share.
Lumber Liquidators has had a tough year, following an expose on CBS’s 60 Minutes which showed that the store was selling Chinese made wood laminate products that contained toxic formaldehyde. LL stock has dropped from nearly $70 at the beginning of 2015 to a recent low below $12 per share.
However, Cantor Fitzgerald feels that all of the bad news is already reflected in the stock price and that the company should perform much better for investors in the future.
Barrick Gold Corporation (USA) (ABX)
It was a very good day for most of the precious metals stocks, rising after the release of the July Fed minutes, but ABX stock in particular stood out. On Wednesday morning, ABX received an analyst upgrade from Macquarie, to “neutral” from “underperform.”
The release of the Fed minutes seemed to indicate that the Fed may not be quite ready to raise interest rates, and that was good new for gold in general, sending ABX, along with most of its competitors much higher today.
ABX stock rose more than 4% by the end of the day.
As of this writing, Ethan Roberts does not hold a position in any of the aforementioned securities.
