The U.S. Economy Stands Strong as Global Economies Slow. Here's How Tesla Took Advantage on Friday. The electric car company was up more than 5 percent after falling by 10 percent the last two days.
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The stock market came roaring back from a weak start to the new year. Falling more than two percent yesterday, the major indexes were all up more than three percent today, with the Nasdaq Composite index rising 4.26 percent.
The Entrepreneur Index™ gained 4.09 percent with only three of sixty stocks on the index down on the day.
The strength of the U.S. economy was the catalyst. China and other global economies, may be slowing, but the U.S. is not. Blowout jobs numbers for December came in nearly twice analyst estimates and wage growth of 3.2 percent year over year was good -- but not so good as to stoke fears of inflation.
Yields on both the two- and 10-year Treasury bonds spiked more than 10 basis points on the jobs numbers. However, equity investors were cheered by dovish comments from Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell. The chairman said there was "no preset path for policy" and that the central bank would be "patient" depending on the economy. Investors clearly take that to mean the Fed may slow or forego further interest rate hikes this year.
Technology stocks led the market rally today. Netflix had the biggest gain on the Entrepreneur Index™, rising 9.72 percent. While the streaming media leader is still technically in bear market territory -- down 30 percent from its high last June -- it is up 27 percent since the day before Christmas.
The other FANG stocks also posted strong gains Alphabet Inc. and Amazon.com were up 5.38 percent and 5.01 percent, while Facebook rose 4.71 percent. Twitter (7.0 percent) was also up nicely. Chip-maker NVIDIA Corp., down more than six percent yesterday was up 6.41 percent today. All thirteen tech stocks on the Entrepreneur Index™ were up on the day. Analog Devices had the smallest gain, rising 2.4 percent.
Tech wasn't the only sector on fire today. Financial stocks were broadly higher. Capital One Financial was up 4.44 percent while investment bank Jefferies Financial Group rose 4.67 percent. Asset managers Blackrock and Franklin Resources were up 3.66 percent and 3.24 percent respectively.
Drug-makers Regeneron Pharmaceuticals (6.85 percent) and Alexion Pharmaceuticals (5.78 percent) were also up sharply. A Guggenheim Partners analyst upgraded Regeneron to a buy and set a target of $461 for the stock from its current $396.
Tesla too had a nice pop today, rising 5.77 percent after falling ten percent in the previous two days. Other stocks recently hammered also bounced back. Boston Scientific Corp. down 4.5 percent yesterday was up 3.95 percent and Fedex, down 25 percent since early December, surged 4.62 percent today. Manufacturers and clothing makers were all strong today.
Hess Corp. was up 7.78 percent. Shares in the oil and gas producer followed the price of oil down more than 50 percent since early October and are now rising faster as the oil market appears to have established a bottom. Hess' stock is up 28 percent since Dec. 26.
Only three stocks on the Entrepreneur Index™ had losses today. Gap Inc. was down 1.51 percent and O'Reilly Automotive Inc. fell 1.25 percent. Real estate investment trust Extra Space Storage was also down 0.7 percent.
The Entrepreneur Index™ collects the top 60 publicly traded companies founded and run by entrepreneurs. The entrepreneurial spirit is a valuable asset for any business, and this index recognizes its importance, no matter how much a company has grown. These inspirational businesses can be tracked in real time on Entrepreneur.com.
