U.S. markets staged a mild rebound today on a quiet day after a bad selloff yesterday, but the market was filled with mixed messages.
On the one hand: Oil prices and commodities, which had a rough time on Monday, were much more stable, and there was no further bad news coming in from Asia.
Meanwhile, weighing on markets was the iShares NASDAQ Biotechnology Index (ETF) (NASDAQ:IBB), which was initially higher this morning, but gave up ground to finish slightly lower, adding to the 6.3% trouncing it took on Monday.
In addition, there were some better economic reports than the markets have recently seen. The S&P Case-Shiller 20 City Index showed a 4.7% price increase in July, better than the 4.5% increase in June, yet below analysts’ estimates for an increase of 5.1%.
Another positive was the Conference Board’s Consumer Confidence index (CCI) for September, whose reading of 103.0 was above the August reading of 101.3.
With the small improvements and quiet tone of the day, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.3%, while the S&P 500 eked out a o.1% gain. However, the Nasdaq was weaker, and fell nearly 0.6%. Sectors were split right down the middle between pluses and minuses, with Industrials the strongest on the day.
A number of individual issues had good gains. Transocean LTD (NYSE: RIG), Republic Airways Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:RJET) and Incyte Corporation (NASDAQ:INCY) set the bar higher for today. Here’s why they were three of today’s best stocks.
Transocean LTD (RIG)
RIG stock was climbing almost 3% higher today, as most of the energy stocks roared back while crude oil prices stabilized. Crude was up about 1.8% on the day.
Also, on Monday, RIG denied any misconduct on its part related to the recent corporate corruption scandal taking place at Petroleo Brasileiro SA-Petrobras (ADR) (NYSE:PBR). RIG had been accused of paying off PBR to win the rights to a lucrative oil contract in 2007.
RIG stock has fallen from $21 per share in May to today’s closing price of $12.34.
Republic Airways Holdings Inc. (RJET)
RJET stock was flying high today as the company reported it has reached a tentative agreement with its pilots union.
The terms of the deal were sketchy. It’s a three-year contract that covers 2100 pilots who belong to the International Brotherhood of Teamsters Local 357. But no other details were released. All that’s known is the new contract will be voted on by the union in late October.
RJET stock surged higher by 13%.
Incyte Corporation (INCY)
INCY shareholders were feeling no pain after INCY reported excellent results from its rheumatoid arthritis drug, Baricitnib, a treatment developed in conjunction with Eli Lilly and Co (NYSE:LLY).
In clinical trials, the drug showed improvement over another arthritis drug, Methotrexate, which has been in use for decades, after six months. Baricitinib was well tolerated by patients in the trial, and had no safety differences when compared to Methotrexate.
INCY stock broke back above its 200-day moving average, finishing more than 4% higher on the day.
As of this writing, Ethan Roberts does not hold a position in any of the aforementioned securities.
