Energy stocks jumped after two oil tankers were attacked in the Gulf of Oman near the busiest shipping lane for tankers in the world. The attacks, along with data showing that OPEC production in May fell to its lowest level in five years, sent the price of oil up 2.2 percent. Shares in oil and gas producer Hess Corp. rose 2.82 percent, the biggest gain on the Entrepreneur Index™ today.
Overall stock prices ended a two-day skid and the indexes posted decent gains. The Dow and S&P 500 indexes were up 0.39 percent and 0.41 percent while the Nasdaq Composite gained 0.57 percent. The Entrepreneur Index™ was up 0.48 percent on the day.
Twitter had the biggest decline, falling 3.07 percent after a bearish analyst reiterated his sell rating on the stock. Michael Nathanson of brokerage firm Moffett Nathanson, said that Twitter was not spending enough on safety and security for its social media network. He expects costs to rise going forward and revenue growth to slow and said the stock’s valuation was currently “stretched.” The shares are up 26.4 percent this year.
The rest of the technology sector was relatively quiet. TripAdvisor Inc. had the biggest gain, rising 1.83 percent. Netflix (-0.62 percent) had the second biggest loss.
Fedex Corp. was up 2.66 percent. Last week, the delivery giant announced it had ended a contract with Amazon.com for Fedex Express Services. The stock is down more than fifteen percent since late April and is now up just 2.7 percent this year.
The shares of clothing-makers continued their erratic trading today. Down sharply yesterday, they had good gains today. Under Armour Inc. jumped 2.39 percent while Gap Inc. (1.85 percent) and L Brands (1.69 percent) were also up.
The REIT sector was generally positive as interest rates ticked down today. Jobless claims rose last week, another sign that the labor market may be weakening. Kimco Realty Corp.and Macerich Company, focused on mall and shopping center properties, were up 1.9 percent and 1.38 percent respectively.
Other standouts on the index today included carmakers Tesla (2.31 percent) and Ford Motor Co. (2.13 percent).
After posting the biggest gain on the Entrepreneur Index™ yesterday, Alexion Pharmaceuticals had the second biggest decline today, dropping 2.83 percent. Other losses on the index included Intercontinental Exchange (-1.06 percent) and Chipotle Mexican Grill (-0.74 percent).
