Investors Rewarded With Treats, Not Tricks, As Dow And S&P Close At Record Highs

U.S. stocks surged on Friday, lifting the Dow and S&P 500 to new all-time high record closes.

Investors were treated to news of a surprise stimulus expansion from the Bank of Japan. The Japanese central bank increased its yearly target for monetary expansion to 80-trillion yen ($724 billion) from a previous 70-trillion yen target. Shares of the WisdomTree Japan Equity ETF (NYSE: DXJ) hit new 52-week highs of $54.03 in trading today.

The Dow rose to new intraday all-time highs of 17,395.54 while the S&P 500 traded to within one point of its intraday all-time high of 2,018.05.

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The Dow gained 1.13 percent, closing at 17,390.52. The S&P 500 gained 1.17 percent, closing at 2,018.05. The Nasdaq gained 1.41 percent, closing at 4,630.74. Gold lost 2.26 percent, trading at $1,171.50. Oil lost 0.69 percent, closing at $80.56 a barrel. Silver lost 1.86 percent, trading at $16.11 an ounce. News Of Note

September Personal Income rose 0.2 percent (versus expectations of 0.3 percent) month over month after rising 0.3 percent in August. Personal spending declined 0.2 percent (versus expectations of a 0.1 percent gain) month over month.

October Chicago PMI rose to 66.2 (versus expectations of 60.5) from 60.5 in September.

October UofM Consumer Sentiment rose to 86.9 (versus expectations of 86.4) from 86.4 in October.

The Bank of Japan increased its asset purchasing program due to concerns that lower oil prices will weigh negatively on consumer prices.

The Russian central bank raised its benchmark rate by 150 basis points to 9.5 percent.

Analyst Upgrades And Downgrades Of Note

Analysts at Citigroup maintained a Neutral rating on CME Group (NYSE: CME) with a price target raised to $84 from a previous $82. Shares gained 2.72 percent, closing at $83.78.

Analysts at Credit Suisse maintained a Neutral rating on Expedia (NASDAQ: EXPE) with a price target raised to $97 from a previous $94. Analysts at Benchmark maintained a Buy rating with a price target raised to $97 from a previous $94. Shares gained 5.25 percent, closing at $84.97.

Analysts at Tigress Financial upgraded Facebook (NASDAQ: FB) to Buy from Neutral. Shares gained 1.19 percent, closing at $74.99.

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Analysts at FBR Capital maintained a Market Perform rating on LinkedIn (NYSE: LNKD) with a price target raised to $180 from a previous $156. Analysts at Citigroup maintained a Hold rating with a price target raised to $206 from a previous $188. Analysts at Credit Suisse maintained an Outperform rating with a price target raised to $259 form a previous $257. Shares gained 12.84 percent, closing at $228.96.

Analysts at Morgan Stanley maintained an Equal-Weight rating on Teva Pharmaceutical (NYSE: TEVA) with a price target raised to $61 from a previous $57. Shares hit new 52-week highs of $57.10 before closing the day at $56.48, up 0.02 percent.

Analysts at JPMorgan assumed coverage of Yahoo! (NASDAQ: YHOO) with an Overweight rating and $55 price target. Shares hit new 52-week highs of $46.52 before closing the day at $46.05, up 0.92 percent.

Equities-Specific News Of Note

Freeport McMoRan's (NYSE: FCX) union cancelled a planned one-month strike at its mine in Indonesia. Shares hit new 52-week lows of $27.72 before rebounding and closing the day at $28.50, up 1.50 percent.

Dollar General (NYSE: DG) extended its tender offer to acquire Family Dollar (NYSE: FDO) until December 31. Shares of Dollar General gained 0.35 percent, closing at $62.67, while shares of Family Dollar gained 0.60 percent, closing at $78.29.

The FDA issued a statement related to Sarepta Therpaeutics (NASDAQ: SRPT) eteplirsen drug, noting that that the methods used in the study were not “adequately robust to support an NDA submission” and that it provided the company with recommendations on how to improve its analysis.” Shares gained 2.80 percent, closing at $16.17.

Kinder Morgan (NYSE: KMI) is seeking a court order to stop residents in Vancouver from blocking work for its Trans Mountain expansion. Shares gained 0.42 percent, closing at $38.70.

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Winners Of Note

Aviv REIT (NYSE: AVIV) has agreed to sell itself to Omega Healthcare Investors (NYSE: OHI) for $3 billion, or $34.97 per share. Omega Healthcare expects the deal to be accretive to its FFO and FAD in 2015. Shares of Aviv REIT hit new 52-week highs of $34.71 before closing the day at $33.73, up 12.06 percent. Shares of Omega Healthcare lost 1.78 percent, closinga t $38.16.

According to The Wall Street Journal, Nucor (NYSE: NUE) is interested in investing in Cliffs Natural Resources (NYSE: CLF) iron ore mine Bloom Lake in Quebec. Shares of Nucor gained 1.87 percent, closing at $54.06 while shares of Cliffs Natural Resources gained 6.95 percent, closing at $11.23.

Decliners Of Note

As gold prices fell to fresh multiyear lows, many gold miners traded lower accordingly. Shares of Newmont Mining (NYSE: NEM) hit 52-week lows of $18.51 before closing the day at $18.76, down 7.72 percent. Shares of Kinross Gold (NYSE: KGC) hit new 52-week lows of $2.07 before closing the day at $2.15, down 13.65 percent. Shares of Yamana Gold (NYSE: AUY) also hit new 52-week lows of $3.80 before closing the day at $3.98, down 10.76 percent.

Earnings Of Note

AbbVie (NYSE: ABBV) reported its third quarter results this morning. The company earned $0.89 per share, beating the consensus estimate of $0.77. Revenue of $5.02 billion beat the consensus estimate of $4.82 billion. Shares hit new 52-week highs of $63.99 before closing the day at $63.46, up 3.73 percent.

Exxon Mobil (NYSE: XOM) reported its third quarter results this morning. The company earned $1.89 per share, beating the consensus estimate of $1.71. Revenue of $107.49 billion beat the consensus estimate of $105.51 billion. Shares gained 2.39 percent, closing at $96.71.

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Chevron (NYSE: CVX) reported its third quarter results this morning. The company earned $2.95 per share, beating the consensus estimate of $2.56. Revenue of $51.80 billion missed the consensus estimate of $52.97 billion. Shares gained 2.35 percent, closing at $119.95.

Anheuser-Busch Inbev (NYSE: BUD) reported its second quarter results this morning. The company earned $1.60 per share, beating the consensus estimate of $1.31. Revenue of $12.20 billion beat the consensus estimate of $11.93 billion. Shares gained 0.88 percent, closing at $110.98.

Quote Of The Day

“Witch and ghost make merry on this last of dear October's days.” – Unknown.

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