U.S. markets gained back a bit more strength from yesterday, as an early rise in oil prices and a bounce back in the biotechnology and health care sectors gave investors a bit more confidence.
Crude oil, however, slipped back in the afternoon to finish about 1.5% lower.
It was a quiet day on the economic front, as markets await the new earnings season. About the only news was the Mortgage Bankers Association’s (MBA) report that weekly mortgage applications rose more than 25%, as anxiety over new mortgage regulations had buyers scrambling to take out a loan before the rules went into effect.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.7%, while the S&P 500 was up 0.8% and the Nasdaq was 0.9% higher. Sectors were in positive territory across the board, with basic materials and energy again the stars of Wall Street.
In the midst of this, Twitter Inc (NYSE:TWTR), United States Steel Corporation (NYSE:X) and Freeport-McMoRan Inc (NYSE:FCX) all had excellent days to stand out as three of today’s best stocks. Here are their stories.
Twitter Inc (TWTR)
TWTR stock had a solid day today, rising 8% after Board member Evan Williams said in an interview on Bloomberg TV that, although it’s “not ideal” that fellow co-founder Jack Dorsey has two jobs, he still thought that Dorsey would be the best person to be running his company.
Dorsey is currently the CEO of both Twitter and Square, Inc., both of which he founded. He has been splitting his time between the two firms ever since the former TWTR CEO was ousted. Square is also expected to go public by the end of 2015.
Also boosting the stock was the report that Saudi Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, has doubled his shares of TWTR over the past six weeks, and now owns 30.1 million shares of TWTR stock.
United States Steel Corporation (X)
U.S. Steel was a big winner today, ahead by 4% as the company announced it will consider consolidating its flat-rolled operations as part of an on-going adjustment to match the demands of its North American customers.
In addition, the company was suggesting that it might have to close its Granite City, Illinois Works plant. Some 2000 employees would be at least temporarily laid off as a result.
Since May, X stock has been in a long downtrend from $26 to a recent low of $10. The stock has bounced about 20% in the past four trading days, but still has a long way to come back from where it once was.
Freeport-McMoRan Inc (FCX)
FCX stock was surging today after the company announced it has reached an agreement with Carl Icahn to appoint two of Icahn’s representatives to the board of directors.
Icahn recently purchased 100 million shares of FCX stock, or about 8.8% of the outstanding shares of Freeport. The activist investor is known for being able to turn around struggling companies and their stocks.
Earlier this week, FCX said it has hired bankers to investigate a review of its oil and gas business, perhaps to do a spinoff of some of its operations, or else to sell some or all of its assets. At the same time, Freeport announced it has reduced the size of its board from 16 to only nine members.
FCX stock, which rose nearly 10% today, is up about 60% over the last six weeks.
As of this writing, Ethan Roberts does not hold a position in any of the aforementioned securities.
