The Santa Claus rally came early this year with the Dow vaulting 421 points to 17,778 after the Federal Reserve indicated yesterday that rates would remain low for a considerable time. Nasdaq rocketed 104 points to 4,748.
On the upside
Wedbush Securities upgraded OvaScience (Nasdaq: OVAS) from a Neutral rating to an Outperform rating and raised its price target from $22 to $47.
GlaxoSmithKline (NYSE: GSK) reported positive results from a Phase 3 study of its shingles vaccine HZ/su which contained Agenus' (Nasdaq: AGEN) adjuvant QS-21 Stimulon(R).
Tetraphase Pharmaceuticals (Nasdaq: TTPH) reported upbeat results from a Phase 3 IGNITE 1 clinical trial of eravacycline to treat complicated intra-abdominal infection.
On the downside
The Wall Street Journal reported that RCS Capital (NYSE: RCAP) chairman Nicholas Schorsch has been sued for his role in an accounting scandal at American Realty Capital Properties (Nasdaq: ARCP).
RBC Capital Markets downgraded Mid-Con Energy Partners (Nasdaq: MCEP) from an Outperform rating to a Sector Perform rating.
Investor locked in profits on Linn Energy (Nasdaq: LINE).
In the broad market, advancing issues outpaced decliners by a margin of more than 4 to 1 on the NYSE and by more than 3 to 1 on Nasdaq. The broader S&P 500 jumped 48 points to 2061. Bitcoin fell $9 to $311.
Fed comments spark Santa Claus rally
December 18, 2014 at 17:14 PM EST