The Zacks Analyst Blog Highlights: JinkoSolar, DHI, Viomi, Plantronics And RYB

For Immediate Release

Chicago, IL –March 4, 2019 – 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: JinkoSolar Holding Co., Ltd. (NYSE:JKS) , DHI Group, Inc. (NYSE:DHX) , Viomi Technology Co., Ltd (NASDAQ:VIOT) , Plantronics, Inc. (NYSE:PLT) and RYB Education, Inc. (NYSE:RYB) .

Here are highlights from Friday’s Analyst Blog:

5 Best-Performing Stocks of February

Markets continued their winning run in 2019, extending the first month’s gains into January. Trade tensions declined, with President Trump announcing that he was delaying additional tariffs on China, slated to come into effect from March. Strong GDP and consumer confidence data added to the bullish sentiment. The Fed’s tone remained dovish, while fourth-quarter earnings remained robust despite a decline in pace.

February’s Performance

After a fabulous January, Wall Street’s rally continued in February. All the three major stock indexes — the Dow, S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite — gained 3.7%, 3% and 3.4%, respectively.

Year to date, the indexes have gained 11.1%. 11.1% and 13.5%, respectively. Several positive developments on the trade war front, the Fed’s decision to put rate hikes on the backburner and a rebound of energy and technology sectors were the major catalysts to the benchmarks’ gains.

Mixed Economic Data

The ISM Manufacturing Index for January surged to 56.6%, surpassing the consensus estimate of 54.3%. Construction spending for November increased 0.8%, beating the consensus estimate of 0.2%. Also, the U.S. economy added 304,000 jobs in January, significantly higher than the consensus estimate of 154,000.

On the negative side, the rate of joblessness did inch up from 3.9% to 4%, but this was primarily due to the recent government shutdown. Also, factory orders declined 0.6% in November.

Retail sales declined 1.2%, in December, the largest monthly drop since September 2009. Spurts in jobless claims and lower-than-expected increases in durable goods and factory orders also gave cause for concern.

Q4 GDP, Consumer Confidence Shine

The consumer confidence index climbed to 131.4 in February from a revised 121.7 in January. Consumers’ optimism was largely driven by strength in the labor market. This was also reflected in strong fourth-quarter GDP numbers.

The second estimate for fourth-quarter GDP revealed that the U.S. economy expanded 2.6% during this period, significantly higher than the expected pace of 2.4%. A 2.8% jump in consumer spending was primarily responsible for this strong reading.

U.S.-China Trade Deal Increasingly Likely

On Feb 24, President Trump tweeted that “substantial progress” was made during last week’s trade negotiations. The issues covered during these talks include key U.S. concerns such as technology transfer and intellectual property.

Following such productive discussions, Trump has decided to defer the additional tariffs that were set to be levied on Chinese imports from Mar 1. The extension of the March deadline puts a freeze on the step up in tariffs from the existing rate of 10% to 25% on $200 billion of additional imports from China.

Further, the U.S. President is set to meet his Chinese counterpart at Mar-a-Lago, Florida to seal a long-lasting trade deal. According to CNBC, sources revealed that the meeting was set to take place late next month. (Read: Zacks Investment Research

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Written By: Zacks Investment Research