Stocks opened sharply higher amid optimism surrounding the trade talks between the U.S. and China. The market rally is in its third week and the averages do not seem to be struggling to find buyers. The monthly JOLTS job openings report was slightly below expectations but it was a reading from November and had little effect. Oil prices are back above $49 a barrel following yesterday's report that the Saudi’s would cut exports in hopes of higher prices.
ECONOMIC EVENTS: In the U.S., the JOLTS report showed job openings dropped 243,000 to 6.89M in November following October's 171,000 increase. The NFIB small business sentiment index dipped 0.4 points to 104.4 in December.
COMPANY NEWS: In a bit of fitting market symmetry, Amazon (AMZN) has become the largest U.S. company by market cap, marking the first time the retailer has achieved that title, at the same time that Reuters reported Sears (SHLD) will ask a bankruptcy judge if it can proceed with liquidation after it could not reach an agreement on Chairman Edward Lampert's $4.4B takeover bid.
Shares of Micron Technology (MU) are sliding after Samsung (SSNLF) lowered its preliminary outlook for Q4. Similar to Micron, Samsung cited excess inventory at its hyperscaler customers and weaker than expected demand in smartphones, Needham analyst Rajvindra Gill told investors. Samsung also reiterated a similar view of Micron's that it expects a second half of 2019 rebound driven by new central processing unit architectures and launches of new smartphones, added the analyst, who believes visibility into the second half of 2019 remains limited.
Shares of Tesla (TSLA) were in focus after Oracle (ORCL) founder Larry Ellison confirmed a stake in the electric carmaker worth $1B. The 1.75% stake makes Ellison, who recently joined the carmaker's board, the second-largest disclosed individual shareholder after Tesla founder and CEO Elon Musk, who owns about a fifth of the company, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
MAJOR MOVERS: Among the noteworthy gainers was Hecla Mining (HL), which rose 9% after Canaccord analyst Dalton Baretto upgraded the stock to Buy from Hold. Also higher was Tactile Systems (TCMD), which gained 22.5% after it guided for better than expected revenue in the fourth quarter and fiscal 2018.
Among the notable losers was Maxar Technologies (MAXR), which plunged a further 31% after the stock was downgraded at Canaccord, Credit Suisse, National Bank, Veritas, and BMO Capital on the heels of yesterday's news that its WorldView-4 satellite experienced a failure in its control moment gyros. Also lower was PG&E (PCG), which fell 10% after S&P downgraded its credit rating to 'B' and maintained the ratings on CreditWatch, where it was placed with negative implications in November.
INDEXES: Near midday, the Dow was up 194.27, or 0.83%, to 23,725.62, the Nasdaq was up 42.94, or 0.63%, to 6,866.41, and the S&P 500 was up 14.64, or 0.57%, to 2,564.33.
Amazon.com
+28.5 (+1.75%)
SHLD
+
Micron
-0.54 (-1.59%)
Samsung
+ (+0.00%)
Tesla
+0.4 (+0.12%)
Hecla Mining
+0.225 (+8.81%)
Tactile Systems
+10.84 (+22.94%)
Maxar Technologies
-2.33 (-28.98%)
PG&E
-1.69 (-8.93%)