The Dow is up 349 points at last check
Investors seem intent on leaving last week's losses behind, as earnings season heats up. The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJI) and Nasdaq Composite (IXIC) both sport triple-digit leads midday, while the S&P 500 Index (SPX) is comfortably higher as well. Semiconductor and tech stocks are leading the charge today, as Wall Street remains hopeful a reopening of China's economy will help business. A Sunday report in the Wall Street Journal that indicated a potential interest rate hike slowdown is also fueling optimism.
Continue reading for more on today's market, including:
Wayfair Inc(NYSE:W) is getting blasted in the options pits today, with 35,000 calls and 42,000 puts across the tape so far, volume that's eight times the amount typically seen at this point. The most popular contract by far is the weekly 1/27 60-strike call, where new positions are being bought to open. Last seen up 23% a $57.56, the furniture e-tailer drew a slew of bull notes this morning, including three upgrades and five price-target hikes. J.P. Morgan Securities upgraded the security to "overweight" from "underweight," while BofA Global Research lifted its price target to $65 from $30. Wayfair stock is trading at five-month highs and eyeing its best single-day percentage gain since Nov. 10.
Pliant Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ:PLRX) is the best performing stock on the Nasdaq today, up 53.6% at $34.58 at last check. Today's bull gap came after company's experimental drug bexotegrast met the primary goal of a mid-stage trial with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) patients. The shares earlier hit a fresh one-year high of $36.50, and have now added 361% in the last nine months.
Catalyst Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:CPRX) is the worst stock on the Nasdaq, last seen down 30.3% to trade at $14.50. Pharma sector peer Teva Pharmaceuticals' (TEVA) plans to market a generic version of Catalyst's drug to treat Lambert-Eaton syndrome before the expiry of its patent is weighing on CPRXX, which has today breached long-time support at the 40-day moving average. Year-over-year, though, the stock still has a healthy 162.2% lead.
