The stock market rallied again Thursday, one day after the Nasdaq composite followed through powerfully, rising 1.9% in higher volume
X The Nasdaq composite led the way, rising 1.6%, helped in part by another strong showing from Netflix (NFLX), which soared 5% after GBH Insights analyst Daniel Ives reiterated his "highly attractive" rating on the stock and raised the price target to 310 from 255. Netflix was a top performer in the IBD 50, along with LogMeIn (LOGM), which reports earnings after the close today. LogMeIn shares rose 2% after Wednesday's breakout over a 128.45 cup-with-handle buy point.
The Dow Jones industrial average added 1.2%, helped by strong gains from Cisco Systems (CSCO), Apple (AAPL) and Boeing (BA). After seven straight quarters of declining sales at Cisco, sales rose 3% to $11.89 billion. Shares popped nearly 5% to 44.08.
Apple, meanwhile, saw more buying interest on the heels of the company's shareholder meeting where CEO Tim Cook talked up the wearables business and the company's opportunity in health care. Shares added 3% to 173. After hitting a low of 150.24 on Feb. 9, shares of Apple have rallied 15%.
The S&P 500 also rose 1.2%, closing just above the 50-day line, and the Russell 2000 small-cap index added 0.9%. Preliminary data showed volume on the NYSE and Nasdaq coming in slightly lower than Wednesday's levels.
The stock market on Wednesday shrugged off a hotter-than-expected reading on consumer prices. Today, it looked past a 0.4% rise in core wholesale prices, double expectations of a 0.2% gain. The 10-year Treasury yield was mostly flat around 2.9% after starting the year around 2.45%.
In the stock market today, Shopify (SHOP) added 0.3%, a pretty good performance considering that shares slumped 5% early on earnings. The enterprise software name reported adjusted profit of 15 cents a share, triple expectations, while sales jumped 71% to $222.8 million.
Elsewhere, SolarEdge Technologies (SEDG) gapped out of a third-stage consolidation, soaring 24% to 45.85, after the company reported a 166% surge in quarterly profit and its third straight quarter of accelerating sales growth. The open price of 42.15 was an actionable entry point.
In IBD's Sector Leaders screen, which now holds 15 names, MKS Instruments (MKSI) cleared a conventional entry at 110.70, rising 3% to 111.10. Note that the breakout is from a fourth-stage base after a big run already.
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