Stocks snapped their two-day losing streak on Thursday as all four of the main indices moved higher. The Russell was the big winner on the day with a gain of 1.05%. The Nasdaq tacked on 0.57% and that was good enough for second place while the S&P gained 0.41%. The Dow lagged the other three ever so slightly, but still managed a gain of 0.39%.
It was a risk on day for the sectors with nine of the 10 moving up. The lone sector to finish in the red was the healthcare sector and it only lost 0.13%.
[hana-code-insert name=’adsense-article’ /]Two sectors experienced gains of over one percent.The energy sector jumped 1.22% as oil was up over 2% on the day.
The communication services sector gained 1.12% to finish with the second biggest gain.
My scans remained bearishly skewed despite the gains on Thursday.
There were 34 names on the bearish list including three inverse ETFs that appeared on the bullish list.
There were 11 actual names on the bullish side.
The barometer did move up a little after the big drop on Wednesday. The final reading was -50, up from -62.6.
Even with the bearish skew to the scans, I felt it would be prudent to add a bullish trade idea after a number of bearish ones. Horizon Therapeutics Public (Nasdaq: HZNP) appeared on the bullish list and it has really good fundamental ratings. The EPS rating is a 98 and the SMR rating is an A.
The weekly chart shows how a trend channel has formed over the past year and the stock just hit the lower rail of the channel. The overbought/oversold indicators have dipped to their lowest levels of this year.
Buy to open the August 23-strike calls on HZNP at $2.25 or better. These options expire on August 16. In order for these options to double the stock will need to reach $27.50. That price is well below the recent high and well below the upper rail of the channel. I suggest a target gain of 100% with a stop at $22.70.
— Rick Pendergraft
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