The 4 Stocks That Lifted Markets
April 22 20thinkstock14: Markets opened higher on Tuesday on strength in the healthcare sector following Valeant’s proposal to acquire Allergan for around $46 billion. Another sector that kept the markets on the rise today was consumer discretionary. At the closing…
April 22 20
14: Markets opened higher on Tuesday on strength in the healthcare sector following Valeant’s proposal to acquire Allergan for around $46 billion. Another sector that kept the markets on the rise today was consumer discretionary. At the closing bell today today the DJIA was up 0.50%, the S&P 500 was up 0.51%, and the Nasdaq Composite was up 1.01%.
The consumer discretionary leader on the DJIA today was The Home Depot Inc. (NYSE: HD), which traded up 2.32% at $2.33 following an analyst’s upgrade to Outperform. The stock’s 52-week range is $72.21 to $83.20. Share volume was about 25% above the daily average of around 7 million shares traded.
UnitedHealth Group Inc. (NYSE: UNH) traded up 1.25% at $75.89 in a 52-week range of $58.12 to $83.32. The shares have been trading lower since the insurer reported weak earnings last Thursday, but today was a turnaround day. Volume was about 19% below the daily average of nearly 5 million shares.
The Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (NYSE: GS) traded higher today at $160.28, posting a rise of 1.57% shortly before the closing bell. The stock’s 52-week range is $139.92 to $181.13. Share volume was roughly equal to the daily average of around 3.6million shares traded. There was no news on the bank today, but like UnitedHealth it engineered a comeback following a stock price drop after reporting earnings last Thursday.
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Nasdaq 100 component Micron Technology Inc. (NASDAQ: MU) traded up another 3.24% today at $26.17, after posting a new 52-week high of $26.28. The 52-week low is $9.07. The company got a boost from an analyst’s upgrade yesterday with a new price target of $50, and the glow carried over to today. Volume was about a 25% higher than the daily average of around 32 million shares traded.
Of the Dow 30 stocks 22 were set to close higher today while 8 look to close lower.
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Paul Ausick has been writing for 247Wallst.com for more than a decade. He has written extensively on investing in the energy, defense, and technology sectors. In a previous life, he wrote technical documentation and managed a marketing communications group in Silicon Valley.
He has a bachelor's degree in English from the University of Chicago and now lives in Montana, where he fishes for trout in the summer and stays inside during the winter.
