The markets shot higher to start the week as investors seem to continue to shrug off the volatile markets over the past few weeks. The Nasdaq 100 has now erased all of the declines seen a few weeks ago and the S&P 500 has recovered almost 80%. The Dow 30 was higher by 397 on the day, the S&P 500 added 32, and the Nasdaq 100 gained 84. Trading volume was light though as the speech by the new Federal Reserve Chairman is due tomorrow. Investors will be anxious to see if he will continue the path of Janet Yellen, the previous chair head.
In the S&P 500 your leader today was HP, Inc. (NYSE: HPQ). The company shot higher by 6% on the day thanks in part to an upgrade by J.P. Morgan (NYSE: JPM) which cited an attractive valuation. The stock closed higher on Friday thanks to an earnings beat and higher guidance going forward.
Mattel (NYSE: MAT) was one of the big losers in the S&P 500 today as the stock was downgraded by Jeffries to underperform citing the company's risk profile. The analyst said that the upside potential is already priced in, leaving little room for shares to increase even if there is a broad turnaround.
Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE: BRK.B) shares were higher by 3.90% today as Warren Buffet released in their annual letter this weekend which showed a cash balance of $116 billion. The investing legend revealed that this was much more than they like to have and they will likely put some of this money to work, buying large companies. Speculation was rampant on the street today as investors tried to predict where they would spend that money. Airlines were all higher by 2% as Mr. Buffett said he wouldn't rule out owning an airline.
In other news, MetLife (NYSE: MET) gave new details on how it lost track of approximately 13,500 clients' pensions. 2 of every 100 clients have not been paid their pensions and MetLife is not sure who or how much to pay. This is not new news though the state and federal inquiries is, along with the departure of those in charge.