Chevron and Exxon Mobil are two of the best Dow stocks at midday
The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJI) appears to be headed toward a fourth straight win, up on strength in energy stocks Chevron (CVX) and Exxon Mobil (XOM). While the big-cap index trades near its session highs, the S&P 500 Index (SPX) has pared a portion of its earlier gains and the Nasdaq Composite (IXIC) is struggling to stay in positive territory. This comes after the International Monetary Fund (IMF) warned increasing trade disputes pose a major risk to the U.S. economy, but raised its full-year U.S. growth forecast to 2.6% from 2.3%.
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Signet Jewelers Ltd. (NYSE:SIG) is seeing unusual options trading today, with around 11,000 puts on the tape so far, nearly 19 times the expected intraday amount. Although SIG stock is down 4.6% at $18.53 -- fresh off a 10-year low of $17.69 -- on the jeweler's weak full-year guidance, not all of the day's put activity is bearish. Specifically, the June 17 put is most active, due to a 7,872-contract block that was likely sold to open earlier.
Ciena Corporation (NYSE:CIEN) is the best stock on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) at midday, after the networking technology firm reported better-than-expected fiscal second-quarter earnings and revenue. At last check, CIEN stock, which flashed a buy signal ahead of earnings, was up 25.4% at $45, within chip-shot of its 11-year peak of $45.70 from early March.
Cloudera Inc (NYSE:CLDR) is near the bottom of the Big Board, after the big data analytics firm offered up disappointing current-quarter and full-year revenue forecasts, and said CEO Tom Reilly is retiring. A round of price-target cuts is only stoking the bearish flames, with CLDR stock down 40.8% at $5.21, earlier tagging a record low of $4.96. Year-over-year, the shares have surrendered almost 70%.
