The Zacks Analyst Blog Highlights: Asbury Automotive, Lithia Motors, Commercial Metals Company, Acushnet And MRC Global
Zacks Investment Research | Jan 09, 2020 09:35PM ET
For Immediate Release
Chicago, IL – January 10, 2020 – Zacks.com announces the list of stocks featured in the Analyst Blog. Every day the Zacks Equity Research analysts discuss the latest news and events impacting stocks and the financial markets. Stocks recently featured in the blog include: Asbury Automotive Group Inc (NYSE:ABG) , Lithia Motors Inc. (NYSE:LAD) , Commercial Metals Company (NYSE:CMC) , Acushnet Holdings Corp. (NYSE:GOLF) and MRC Global Inc. (NYSE:MRC) .
Here are highlights from Thursday’s Analyst Blog:
5 Growth Stocks to Buy as Middle East Tensions Subside
When the markets were expecting Middle-East tensions to intensify following Tehran’s retaliatory attack, President Donald Trump’s comment that America will not go for a full-on war and will instead embrace peace provided some relief to investors.
However, Trump added that additional economic sanctions will be imposed immediately on Tehran until the nation stops supporting terrorism and abandons its nuclear program. Precisely, the de-escalation in tensions between Washington and Tehran is likely to help Wall Street maintain its uptrend.
Middle-East Tensions De-escalate
After the recent U.S. airstrike killed Iran’s top commander General Qasem Soleimani in Baghdad, Tehran retaliated by firing more than a dozen ballistic missiles at U.S. troops in Iraq. Although Tehran’s retaliation initially shook the global market, Trump’s comment has calmed investors.
Trump said that the retaliatory attack hasn’t hurt American troops and that the United States will thus not take any military action.
Easing Trade War
Last December, Washington and Beijing agreed to the terms of a historic phase-one trade deal — likely to be signed on Jan 15, 2020. As part of the accord, the United States called off the Dec 15 implementation of 15% tariffs on $160 billion worth of China goods — comprising toys, laptops, cell phones and clothing. Beijing also didn’t proceed with the retaliatory tariffs of 25% on American autos that were set to go into effect on the same day.
Moreover, Washington has decided to halve the tariff rate levied on Sep 1 on a list of Chinese goods, worth $120 billion, to 7.5%. However, to leverage negotiations for the second phase in 2020, the United States has kept its 25% duty on $250 billion worth of Chinese goods in place.
In the next two years, Beijing will ramp up purchase of goods and services from Washington by at least $200 billion, added U.S. officials. The list of goods to be purchased comprises manufactured goods, agricultural goods and energy. With this, the U.S. officials believe that the country’s $419-billion trade deficit with China will be significantly lowered, which in turn will boost the nation’s GDP.
Precisely, Beijing has vowed to step up its purchases of agriculture products from Washington by $32 billion in the next two years. Apart from the agricultural purchases, the agreement covers issues like intellectual property protection and technology transfers.
Healthy Labor Market
The employment in the U.S. nonfarm private sector has picked up with the addition of 202,000 jobs in December — per the ADP (NASDAQ:ADP) National Employment Report — beating the economists’ expectation of 160,000, as polled by Reuters. ADP data also signifies that the American private sector has added the maximum number of jobs in eight months.
Apart from the solid job growth in December, ADP has made upward revisions to its November estimates from 67,000 to 124,000, reflecting America’s healthy labour market.
5 Growth Stocks to Make Merry
With the broader U.S. stock market rising on hopes of subsiding Middle-East tensions, the upward trend is likely to continue as easing trade tensions and a healthy labor market have been acting as catalysts. Thus, to outdo market returns as well as take advantage of the aforesaid factors, we have used the Original post
Get The News You Want
Trading in financial instruments and/or cryptocurrencies involves high risks including the risk of losing some, or all, of your investment amount, and may not be suitable for all investors. Prices of cryptocurrencies are extremely volatile and may be affected by external factors such as financial, regulatory or political events. Trading on margin increases the financial risks.
Before deciding to trade in financial instrument or cryptocurrencies you should be fully informed of the risks and costs associated with trading the financial markets, carefully consider your investment objectives, level of experience, and risk appetite, and seek professional advice where needed.
Fusion Media would like to remind you that the data contained in this website is not necessarily real-time nor accurate. The data and prices on the website are not necessarily provided by any market or exchange, but may be provided by market makers, and so prices may not be accurate and may differ from the actual price at any given market, meaning prices are indicative and not appropriate for trading purposes. Fusion Media and any provider of the data contained in this website will not accept liability for any loss or damage as a result of your trading, or your reliance on the information contained within this website.
It is prohibited to use, store, reproduce, display, modify, transmit or distribute the data contained in this website without the explicit prior written permission of Fusion Media and/or the data provider. All intellectual property rights are reserved by the providers and/or the exchange providing the data contained in this website.
Fusion Media may be compensated by the advertisers that appear on the website, based on your interaction with the advertisements or advertisers.