With oil falling for a second day, stocks joined as investors again eschewed riskier assets. Bonds rose while the energy sector was the worst-performing group in the U.S.
The S&P 500 fell 0.06% while the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 0.18%. The Nasdaq Composite was a bright spot with a gain of 0.36%.
It was another mostly negative day for stocks, but Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL), Sarepta Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ:SRPT) and Twitter Inc (NASDAQ:TWTR) found ways to avoid that trend.
Apple Inc. (AAPL)
Shares of Apple Inc. climbed 3.5% following some bullish analyst commentary on shares of the iPhone maker.
Morgan Stanley analyst Katy Huberty said in a note that only 25% of iPhone users, based on a user base of 600 million, need to upgrade to the soon-to-be-released iPhone 7 to beat consensus estimates, reports Forbes. AAPL releases the newest iPhone on Friday.
RBC analyst Amit Daryanani reiterated an “outperform” rating on AAPL, citing attractive valuation among other factors. The analyst believes AAPL “analyst estimates will start to move higher due to the December quarter having 14 weeks, better margin stability and ASP’s moving up,” reports according to Forbes.
As InvestorPlace reported Tuesday, shares of Apple rose that day after Sprint Corp (NYSE:S) and T-Mobile US Inc (NYSE:TMUS) reported brisk pre-orders for AAPL’s iPhone 7. Sprint and T-Mobile said pre-orders for the iPhone 7 were four times those seen with the iPhone 6.
Shares of Sarepta Therapeutics Inc surged 26.7% on more than seven times the usual volume on speculation that the departure of Ron Farkas from the Food and Drug Administration could help the stock.
Farkas has been a vocal critic of SRPT’s drug for Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy (DMD). Farkas led the team reviewing SRPT’s DMD treatment, known as eteplirsen, and his departure is being seen as a sign that he lost an internal battle over the drug’s approval, reports Barron’s.
Barron’s said if eteplirsen is approved, Sarepta shares could rise to $60 as nearly a third of the company’s shares outstanding are sold short.
Twitter Inc (TWTR)
Shares of Twitter Inc climbed 1.8% on news that Jack Dorsey’s company has created a stand-alone TV app that will allow users to watch live events, including Thursday’s NFL game between the New York Jets and Buffalo Bills.
TWTR has partnered with major technology and Internet companies such as Apple to bring live televised events to mobile devices that do not require users to log into the TWTR platform.
TWTR also has partnerships with sports leagues beyond the NFL, including the NBA, NHL, MLB, MLS and the English Premier League.
At the time of this writing, Todd Shriber did not own any of the aforementioned securities.
