Market Insights
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Options Traders May Think Carnival Will Keep Sailing Higher
Carnival is the top-performing member of the S&P 500 in June, and one big options trader may think it will keep sailing over the summer. Check out this unusual options activity yesterday in the cruise-ship operator: 20,000 August 16 calls traded for $0.83. 20,000...
Is the Global Picture Brightening?
Global stocks have been a hot mess all summer, but some recent events may suggest the tide is turning. Over the weekend, for instance, China allowed its currency to appreciate against the U.S. dollar. That's being viewed as a sign Beijing won't deploy yuan devaluation...
Last Week Shows Records Were Made to Be Broken
As the saying goes: Records were made to be broken. Just take the market last week. The S&P 500's decade-long bull run surpassed the lifespan of its previous upward journey in the 1990s. Another record fell on Tuesday, when the Russell 2000 Index hit a new...
New Companies Back on the Rise
Back in the spring, there was a wave of bullishness in initial public offerings. After a few pullbacks, some of those companies are pushing higher again. Take a name like ZScaler (ZS), which provides cloud-computing security services. It chopped around after crushing...
Goldilocks Drives S&P 500 to New Highs
If the longest bull market in history had a patron saint, it would be Goldilocks. This Wednesday marked the 3,453rd session in the uptrend that began on March 9, 2009. That outlasted the earlier run between late 1990 and early 2000. While improving economics and...
Calls Spike as Small Cap Goes Mobile: Options Recap
Last month, Market Insights highlighted a surging maker of smart-phone games. Yesterday, options traders lit up the name. Here's a breakdown of the large transactions detected in Glu Mobile (GLUU): A block of 5,500 September 5.50 calls was bought for $2.04. A block of...
Retail Revival Underway: Earnings This Week
Remember when everyone thought traditional retailers were going extinct? This week's earnings reports may have destroyed that narrative. "This is the healthiest environment I have ever seen," Target (TGT) CEO Brian Cornell told CNBC as his stock shot into record...
Technology & Communication
Semiconductors and Apple Just Led the S&P 500 to its Best Year Since 2013
Last year was dominated by technology trades as investors returned to their favorite corner of the stock market. Let's review some of the biggest movers. First of all, semiconductors ripped higher as orders rebounded. The industry may also remain in focus this year as...