Chip stock Micron is powering the tech-heavy Nasdaq today
Stocks are set to end an impressive month -- and an even more impressive quarter -- on a high note. The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJI) is looking at a 70-point gain midday, while the Nasdaq Composite (IXIC) and S&P 500 Index (SPX) are also both trading modestly above breakeven. Travel and hotel sectors, which hinge directly on reopening optimism (or lack thereof),
are feeling the heat today, though an earnings beat from semiconductor giant Micron (MU) is helping keep markets afloat at the midway mark.
All three indexes are pacing for astronomical quarterly gains, accrued on the back of gradual economic reopenings which now of course many states are rescinding. The Dow and S&P 500 are heading for their best quarters
since 1998, while the Nasdaq eyes its biggest quarterly win since 2001. For the month, all three benchmarks are looking at sizable June wins as well.
Continue reading for more on today's market, including:
- Schaeffer's Senior Quantitative Analyst Rocky White lists the 25 stocks to steer clear of in July.
- Rumors of Uber's newest acquisition is putting fuel in the stock's tank.
- Plus, options bulls bet on more upside for NET; QUMU dissolves Synacor merger; and ZYNE sinks on failed drug trial.
Options bulls are bombarding Cloudflare Inc (NYSE:NET) today, with 30,000 calls exchanged so far -- seven times the intraday average -- compared to just 519 puts. Most popular by far is the July 40 call, where positions
are being bought to open. The tech stock is trading at $35.31 at last check, with a 107% lead for the year. Earlier this month, NET hit a record high of $38.48, so this suggests that plenty of options traders are speculating on even more fresh highs for Cloudflare by the time these contracts expire on Friday, July, 17.
Qumu Corp (NASDAQ:QUMU) is one of the best stocks on the Nasdaq today, up 41.7% at $3.48 after the software firm announced last night the mutual termination
of its merger agreement with Synacor (SYNC). The announcement sparked an upgrade to "buy" from Craig-Hallum, which also lifted its price target to $4 -- a 15% premium to current levels. QUMU is trading at an eight-month high and is set to topple its
320-day moving average for the first time since an early November bear gap.
One of the worst stocks on the Nasdaq today is drug maker Zynerba Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:ZYNE). ZYNE was last seen off 48.7% at $3.36, after the drugmaker's cannabis-based gel treatment Zygel failed to meet its main and key
secondary goals during a trial in patients with neurological condition Fragile X syndrome. The stock is set to close below its 40-day moving average, which captured several pullbacks in the past few months, for the first time since early April.