STOCKS RISE, GOLD AND OIL SINK: Here’s What You Need To Know

MYLES UDLAND

 NOV. 11, 2014

flickr/Roger Price

Stocks gained while gold, oil, and the VIX all fell to start the week. By virtue of closing in positive territory, both the Dow and the S&P 500 made new all-time closing highs. 

First, the scoreboard:

• Dow: 17,602.9, +29, (+0.2%)
• S&P 500: 2,036.5, +4.5, (+0.2%)
• Nasdaq: 4,646.8, +14.2, (+0.3%)

And now, the top stories on Monday:

1. Stocks did it again. Any green close on Monday would have given the Dow and the S&P 500 new all-time highs, and so for the second straight day, we’ve got new records. Overall, though, nothing too exciting in the market, with NYSE floor governor Rich Barry writing in a midday email that Monday is one of those days where we just had “more buyers than sellers.” But aside from the lackluster action on Monday, we’re currently witnessing the strongest three-week streak for stocks since October 2011, with both the Dow and the S&P 500 now up more than 7% in just three weeks. 

2. We’re still a few weeks away from Thanksgiving, but with third quarter earnings mostly in the books, Wall Street strategists are already publishing their outlooks for 2015. At UBS, Julian Emanuel said the S&P 500 looks poised to rise another 14% to 2,225 in 2015, with earnings for the benchmark index set to rise 7% to $126. Emanuel cited strong corporate balance sheets, as well as solid GDP and earnings growth, as key drivers for a likely expansion in stock prices next year. “Roll tide, roll,” Emanuel wrote.

3. And while stock prices have risen in recent weeks, not all assets have held up well, particularly oil, gold, and the VIX, which measures stock market volatility. Oil and gold fell more than 1.5% on Monday, bringing these commodities — again — to multi-year lows as gold cracked $1,150 an ounce and oil again fell to near $77. Meanwhile the VIX, which is often called the “fear index” and measures expected stock market volatility, fell nearly 5% on Monday to below 12.5. In the last month, the VIX is down more than 40%. 

4. One commodity that hasn’t been under pressure of late, however, is cattle. Live-cattle futures last week hit an all-time high on CME, and prices are unlikely to come down anytime soon, Business Insider’s Akin Oyedele reports. In addition to increasing demand for beef, a 2011 drought in Texas and Oklahoma dented cattle herds, which has forced farmer to undergo a lengthy cattle replacement process. 

5. GoPro shares were down 4% on Monday as the stock was again in focus after the company filed to sell $800 million worth of common stock. Following this disclosure, GoPro CEO Nick Woodman sent an email to GoPro employees explaining the company’s motivation for the filing, which was two-fold: to raise $100 million capital for the company and to facilitate a more orderly sale of stock following the end of the company’s lock-up expiration. GoPro’s lock-up expiration is set to expire in December. In his email, Woodman said that while he will sell a portion of his GoPro holdings, “I plan to be a significant shareholder in GoPro for a long time.” 

6. Inflows to Janus Capital totaled more than $1 billion in October, the first month that Bill Gross was at the firm after joining from PIMCO, the firm he co-founded in 1971. The Unconstrained Bond Fund, which Gross is managing at Janus, saw more than $360 million in investor inflows in October. 

7. McDonald’s reported October global same-store sales that fell 0.5%, which was actually better than the 2.2% decline expected by analysts. McDonald’s shares finished the day unchanged. 

8. In bankruptcy news, biopharmaceutical company Dendreon, which markets cancer vaccine Provenge, saw shares plummet 80% after filing for Chapter 11 protection on Monday. The company said that agreed to terms of a restructuring with certain of its bondholders, and that this may include a standalone recapitalization or a sale of the company’s assets.