A day after the Federal Reserve opted to keep interest rates on hold — a move many think will result in just two rate hikes this year — stocks soared and oil rallied as the U.S. dollar stumbled. Bolstered by a gain of 3.8% by oil, the S&P 500 rose 0.66%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average erased its year-to-date loss thanks to a gain of 0.9%, while the Nasdaq Composite added 0.23%.
Riskier fare was the order of the day, as emerging markets, equities and currencies jumped, helping stoke a rally in cyclical sectors in the U.S., such as energy, industrials and materials.
Those catalysts provide the perfect entry to discussing why Banco Bradesco SA (ADR) (NYSE:BBD), Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE:CAT) and FedEx Corporation (NYSE:FDX) are three of today’s best stocks.
Banco Bradesco SA (ADR) (BBD)
Banco Bradesco, one of Brazil’s largest banks, joined a major rally in Brazilian stocks Thursday, soaring 15.5% due to a variety of catalysts. Stocks in Latin America’s largest economy — along with its currency, the real — surged as the movement to impeach President Dilma Rousseff continued gaining momentum.
Adding fuel to that fire — and the equity rally — was news out Thursday that a Brazilian federal judge blocked the appointment of former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva as Rousseff’s chief of staff. There are scores of media reports saying Brazilian authorities have a recording of Rousseff offering her predecessor the job, which has emboldened Brazil’s anti-corruption protesters.
Interestingly, Brazilian banks, such as BBD, have also rallied this month on speculation that the country’s central bank could lower interest rates. The country’s benchmark lending rate is 14.25%, among the highest in the world.
Caterpillar Inc. (CAT)
Caterpillar, the world’s largest maker of construction and mining equipment, rose 2.1% after it forecast a first-quarter profit of 50 cents to 55 cents a share on sales of $9.3 billion to $9.4 billion.
Excluding costs, CAT, a member of the Dow Jones Industrial Average, expects to earn 65 cents to 70 cents a share in the current quarter.
For the full year, Caterpillar expects to earn $4 a share, excluding costs, on revenue of $40 billion to $44 billion.
FedEx Corporation (FDX)
Shares of FedEx, the second-largest U.S. package delivery company, surged 11.8% on volume that was more than quadruple the daily average after the company forecast a profit of $10.70 to $10.90 a share for its fiscal year ending in May. Analysts were expecting a profit of $10.55 per share.
Tennessee-based FDX reported a fiscal third-quarter profit of $2.51 per share on revenue of $12.7 billion. Analysts expected FDX to earn $2.34 a share on revenue of $12.4 billion. The bullish guidance helped FDX to its best intraday performance in 22 years.
At the time of this writing, Todd Shriber did not own any of the aforementioned securities.
