Oprah to Buy 10% Stake in Weight Watchers
Quite the Monday surprise; after what appeared to be the start of an ugly day on Wall Street, stocks fought back, closing narrowly higher as investors prepare for a deluge of earnings. The Dow gained 14 points, the S&P fought the bears up until the final minutes of trade and managed to move higher by half a point, and the Nasdaq jumped 18 points.
IBM (NYSE:IBM) fell after hours after it missed on revenue for the 14th quarter in a row. Hardware sales declined as well, but the tech giant says the strong dollar was also to blame.
Weight Watchers (NYSE:WTW) shares gained massive weight after Oprah gave the stock her blessing. The billionaire media mogul announced she will take a 10% stake in the weight management company. On that news, shares skyrocketed, closing up 105% at $13.92.
That was bad news for competitor NutriSystem (NASDAQ:NTRI), falling in Monday's trade by 8%.
It was a slam dunk for Nike (NYSE:NKE) as it posted another record high, its third day in a row. The athletic gear giant is the top performer in the blue chip index, up 39% this year.
Another consumer favorite, Starbucks (NASDAQ:SBUX), touched a lifetime high Monday. That's the second new high in a week for the world's largest coffee seller.