For the second day in a row the markets (and oil) started lower but finished positive. Although the overall volume was limited, all the markets finished in the green for today. The Dow 30 performed the best (1.13%)thanks to strong gains from Nike (NYSE: NKE) and United Technologies (NYSE: UTX). The S&P 500 also finished strong, up 21 points (1.14%), and the Nasdaq 100 posted a respectable 39 point (0.87%) gain.Share of Salesforce.com (NYSE: CRM) surged 11.02% today after reporting in-line results in Q4 and issuing estimates for Q1 that match analyst expectations. The companies positive outlook for the year helped break the down trend that has been in place since the start of 2016.
Best Buy (NYSE: BBY) gained 2.45% today despite the company issuing guidance below-consensus. The tech retailer did beat analysts expectations in Q4, and offered up a special dividend of $0.45 cents a share or about $145 million in shareholder payouts which fueled today's buying. This weeks positive gains puts Best Buy in the green for the year.
Restoration Hardware (NYSE: RH) slumped 25.87% today after the company issued earnings and revenue guidance well beneath analyst estimates. The company says that "customers held off on purchases in January which is typically a strong sales month". Now,I'm no analyst but it may have to do with the ridiculous prices they charge for products you can purchase on Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN) 1000% cheaper.