The bulls of August roamed on Thursday as stocks hammered out healthy gains in rising trade.
X The Nasdaq rose 0.9%, adding a fourth day to its run-up and ending less than 1% off its July 27 high. The S&P 500 grabbed a 0.6% gain, its fifth in a row. That gave it some breathing room above its 50-day moving average and put it within 1% of its peak, notched on Aug. 8.
The Dow Jones industrial average turned in a third straight gain, up 0.3%, holding comfortably above its 50-day line and also 1% from its Aug. 8 high-water mark.
For August, the Nasdaq gained 1.3%, notching its 11 gain in the past 13 months. The S&P 500 tuned positive, managing a 0.1% gain in its ninth advance in 10 months. The Dow hauled in a 0.3% increase, also its ninth gain since October.
DowDuPont Set To Launch; YY, Celgene Lead IBD 50
Canadian oil producers posted the strongest gain among the 197 industry groups tracked by IBD as energy remained center stage due to factors tied to Tropical Storm Harvey's impact on the Gulf Coast. Fairfax, Va.-based Colonial Pipeline announced it was forced to shut down its pipeline — a 100-million-gallon-per-day throughput for gasoline and other refined fuels flowing from Gulf Coast refineries north to the massive markets along the East Coast. Trucks and barges are likely to be used heavily to make up for the lost supply until the Colonial conduit reopens.
That helped send gasoline futures more than 13% higher, now up nearly 30% for the week.
The Port of Houston announced it would begin to resume operations on Friday. The Port of South Louisiana continued to report normal operations with no closures.
Medical industry groups posted five of the day's strongest moves among industries. The outpatient and home care group topped that list, led by Amedisys' (AMED) 5% gain. Discount and variety retailers took the session's hardest hit among industries as Dollar General (DG) retreated 5% and Five Below (FIVE) dropped 4% after reporting quarterly results.
China-based YY (YY) held its place atop the IBD 50 list, rising 4% in a big-volume rebound from support at its 10-week moving average. Goldman Sachs initiated coverage on the social media platform with a buy rating and a 101 price target.
Biotech name Celgene (CELG) surged more than 3% in healthy trade, placing the IBD 50 stock just a breath away from a 139.10 buy point in a flat base.
On the Dow, DuPont (DD) led with a 2% advance as it prepared to wrap up its merger with Dow Chemical (DOW), scheduled to close today. The combined company, named DowDuPont, is scheduled to begin trading Friday under the ticker DWDP. The change will require an alteration in how the Dow's value is calculated, beginning Friday. S&P Dow Jones Indices reports that the change will not have any effect on the level of the index.
In FANG stock news, Facebook (FB), Amazon.com (AMZN) and Google parent Alphabet (GOOGL) all scored gains of better than 1%.
Facebook added a fourth straight gain as it continued its weak-volume rebound from its 10-week line.
Alphabet retook its 10-week line in weak trade as it works on the sixth week of a possible base. Amazon, also in the sixth week of a consolidation, remains below its 10-week line.
Apple (AAPL) added 0.4% to take out a new high. That left Apple at the very top of its buy range above a 156.75 buy point.
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