Why Wynn Resorts, Limited (WYNN), Barrick Gold Corporation USA (ABX) and Chipotle Mexican Grill, Inc. (CMG) Are 3 of Today’s Best Stocks

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U.S. markets sank like a stone right from the opening bell Friday, after Brent crude oil futures dropped some 5% on Iranian export supply concerns and several U.S. economic reports were weaker than expectations. In addition, China’s Shanghai Index dropped another 3.5% overnight.

Why Wynn Resorts, Limited (WYNN), Barrick Gold Corporation USA (ABX) and Chipotle Mexican Grill, Inc. (CMG) Are 3 of Today's Best StocksBy the end of the day, crude oil was below $30 a barrel. Traders were reacting to the removal of sanctions against Iran this week as per the recently signed nuclear treaty, which means Iran will be ramping up its oil production on a market which already has excessive oversupply.

Adding to the woes were several negative economic reports. The January Empire manufacturing index came in at negative 19.4, its lowest level since April 2009, as orders and shipments declined. Analysts were expecting a negative 4.5 reading.

The Producer Price Index was down 0.2% in December, creating a total PPI of negative 1% for all of 2015. That was the worst showing since 2010. Finally, the industrial production report for December was down 0.4%, while the Street was expecting only a 0.2% decline.

After trading down as much as 537 points intraday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average finished 2.4% lower, while the S&P 500 was off 2.1%. The weaker Nasdaq dropped 2.7%. As could be expected, all major sectors finished much lower. However, gold stocks fared pretty well on the day.

As tough as it was to find winners today, Wynn Resorts, Limited (NASDAQ:WYNN), Barrick Gold Corporation USA (NYSE:ABX) and Chipotle Mexican Grill, Inc. (NYSE:CMG) did have their investors cheering, and are three of today’s best stocks.

Here’s why they were able to buck the market downtrend.

Wynn Resorts, Limited (WYNN)

WYNN stock was one of the few bright spots on Wall Street today. The Macau and Las Vegas based resort announced preliminary fourth-quarter results for both of its operations.

While Macau’s net revenues fell from $761.2 million a year ago to a range of $552 million to $560 million this time, revenues for Vegas are projected at $387 million to $395 million — well ahead of the $376.8 million earned in the year ago quarter.

Investors focused on the Vegas numbers and ran WYNN stock up over 13%. This was welcome news for WYNN shareholders, who have seen their stock decline from $220 a share in 2014 to a recent low below $52.

Barrick Gold Corporation USA (ABX)

Gold stocks sharply contrasted the collapse of stock prices. And the leading gold stock today was Barrick; which despite not having any news to propel it, was up over 4% on strengthening gold prices.

The reasons for buying gold now? China’s markets falling, geopolitical unrest, falling U.S. stocks — pick your choice. ABX stock is up about 31% since mid-October and has outperformed the SPDR Gold Trust ETF (NYSE:GLD) and all the other major gold stocks over the past month.

GLD was also 1% higher today.

Chipotle Mexican Grill, Inc (CMG)

After a rough few months, CMG stock has bounced back very nicely this week on renewed investor confidence. The worst of the E. coli outbreak seems to be behind the company now. CMG stock gained more than 4% on the day.

Friday’s big news was the announcement that on Feb. 8, CMG will close all of its restaurants across the country for a few hours while it conducts food safety training for all of its 60,000 employees.

The training will take place via satellite feed, and will discuss new measures designed to prevent any future or further outbreaks of the E. coli problems that plagued the restaurant chain between October and the end of 2015.

As of this writing, Ethan Roberts did not hold a position in any of the aforementioned securities.

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Article printed from InvestorPlace Media, https://investorplace.com/2016/01/best-stocks-wynn-abx-cmg/.

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