Credit: Shutterstock photoTalk about making a pig's ear of that taper prediction . The Dow (INDEXDJX:.DJI) rose to records after the Fed defied all allegedly informed analysis and opted to continue its bond buying binge. On a decidedly bad day for soothsayers, Priceline ( PCLN ) became the first ever S&P 500 Index (INDEXSP:.INX) issue to hit $1,000, which its purportedly clairvoyant spokesperson , a small medium at large, also clearly never saw coming. And Oracle ( ORCL ), which tumbled 2.86% after-hours on an earnings miss, should surely similarly get out of the for-prophet forecasting game. In days of yore it was, of course, one of the fabled "Four Horsemen of the Internet," and our other equine friends did enjoy a fine day at the races. Churchill Downs ( CHDN ) rose to the highest level in its history, an honor matched by Regeneron ( REGN ), now up an astonishing 1,300% since the financial crisis. Its headquarters are in the Headless Horseman headquarters of Tarrytown and, for what it was worth (quite a lot, actually), HorseheadHolding ( ZINC ) jumped 4.48% in tandem. British bank Lloyds ( NYSE:LYG), of the long-faced logo , gained 4.60%. And not to be left out, English grocery giant Tesco (OTCMKTS:TSCDY) - whose beef burgers taste suspiciously like horse - is begun with a bullish "buy" rating this morning.
Today in economics, we get a trio of reports at 10:00 a.m. Eastern, in the form of August leading indicators and existing-home sales, and the Philadelphia Fed Survey for September. On the corporate earnings front, ConAgra (CAG), Pier 1 Imports (PIR), Rite Aid (RAD), and Scholastic (SCHL) are all due to report results.
AmerisourceBergen (ABC): Sterne Agee starts the stock at a Buy.
Destination XL Group (DXLG) Shares are launched with a Buy at Lake Street.
Facebook Inc (FB): More good news for the recently-surging stock, today begun with a Buy recommendation and $52 price objective at CRT Capital. The broker says mobile ad revenue is now at a run rate of over $3.6 billion.
InterContinental Hotels (IHG): Societe Generale has a Buy on IHG.
Internet Stocks: Credit Suisse covers Dow member Cisco Systems (CSCO) at an Underperform. It has a fresh Fair Value on Yahoo (YHOO). Buys, meanwhile, are begun on Amazon (AMZN), Google (GOOG) ($1,090 target price), and LinkedIn (LNKD) ($302 price objective.)
Oracle ( ORCL ): William Blair begins coverage on the stock, currently under pressure, at Market Perform.
Sands China (OTCMKTS:SCHYY): HSBC Securities starts the stock at Overweight.
Tesco (OTCMKTS:TSCDY): As mentioned, the British grocery firm is a fresh Buy at Nomura.
(See also: Stock Upgrades: Tony Hayward, of BP Infamy, Gets His Life Back at Glencore Xstrata and Stock Downgrades: Dr Pepper Not Worth Its Salt .)
The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.
The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.
