Stocks Continue to Rise; S&P, Nasdaq Eye Best Week In a Year
Stocks seemingly can't be stopped, as the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJI), S&P 500 Index (SPX), and Nasdaq Composite (IXIC) scale fresh record highs. Today's gains comes despite this morning's mixed December jobs report and heavy selling on energy stocks, with the tech sector again leading -- evidenced by strong moves from Dow stocks Cisco Systems (CSCO) and Apple (AAPL). Meanwhile, the ISM non-manufacturing index ticked lower in December, and factory orders for November topped expectations. The Dow, SPX, and Nasdaq are all set for huge weekly wins, with the latter two indexes pacing for their best weekly percentage gains since December 2016.
Continue reading for more on today's market, including:
Time to buy NVIDIA options. Valeant stock could be on the cusp of another surge higher.Plus, calls hot on JD.com; another surging semiconductor stock; and Under Armour fills its bear gap.
Among the stocks with unusual options volume is JD.com Inc (NASDAQ:JD), as call volume runs at two times the expected pace. The most popular contracts are the January 2018 43- and 45-strike calls, and anyone buying to open the strikes are betting on more upside from JD stock in the coming weeks. At last check, shares of the Chinese e-commerce giant were trading 2.6% higher at $44.82.
One of the top performers on the Nasdaq is Xilinx, Inc. (NASDAQ:XLNX), after Goldman Sachs added the chipmaker to its conviction buy list. More specifically, the brokerage firm upgraded XLNX to "buy" from "neutral," and lifted its price target to $78 from $72. The stock was last seen trading 4.6% higher at $73.72, not far from its 17-year high of $75.14 from early November.
Considering the strength in equities this week, it only makes sense to highlight another winner. So looking over at the New York Stock Exchange, Under Armour Inc (NYSE:UAA) stands out as one name to take note of. The shares are up 2.9% to trade at $16.29. However, UAA stock has been trending higher since its late-October bear gap -- which it's now filled. Over the past month the equity is up roughly 26%.