Oil prices slid 3% on Tuesday, sending the dollar higher and riskier assets lower. The cause was a report by the International Energy Agency that said global oil supply will continue building through next year.
The result was a difficult day for the markets after Monday’s rebound. The S&P 500 sagged by almost 1.5% while the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 1.4%. The Nasdaq Composite shed almost 1.1%.
But not every stock was on the outs. Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL), Intersil Corp (NASDAQ:ISIL) and JetBlue Airways Corporation (NASDAQ:JBLU) managed upside on a rough day for the broader market.
Here’s what kept these stocks up when everything else was down.
Apple Inc. (AAPL)
AAPL shares rose 2.5% after Sprint Corp (NYSE:S) and T-Mobile US Inc (NYSE:TMUS) reported brisk pre-orders for AAPL’s iPhone 7. Sprint and T-Mobile said pre-orders for the iPhone 7 were four times those seen with the iPhone 6.
Apple, a member of the Dow Jones Industrial Average, said it is not releasing sales data from the first weekend the new iPhone is available. Sprint and T-Mobile’s numbers more than sufficed to give AAPL a lift.
“Sprint’s and T-Mobile’s combined US subscribers market share was just over 30% in the June quarter according to Statista,” reports Forbes.
After unveiling the newest iPhone, AAPL shares stumbled on speculation. Namely, Wall Street feared that buyers would be turned off by the lack of a traditional headphone jack.
Intersil Corp (ISIL)
Shares of semiconductor maker Intersil Corp surged nearly 10% on volume that was more than 25 times the daily average on news the company will be acquired by Japanese rival Renesas Electronics. Renesas will pay $3.2 billion for ISIL.
Renesas is offering $22.50 per share of ISIL in cash, an almost 14% premium to where Intersil shares closed Monday.
The Japanese company said “Intersil’s portfolio of analog and power devices will strengthen many of its initiatives in several areas such as automotive, industrial, infrastructure and its growing Internet of Things engagements,” according to a CNBC report.
Renesas specifically is looking to build up its offerings in battery and processor power management, optoelectronics and other areas.
JetBlue Airways Corporation (JBLU)
Shares of JetBlue Airways Corporation climbed 2.4% on about triple the usual turnover after the airline reported robust August traffic growth, beating some of its larger rivals for the month.
JBLU said August traffic growth was ahead of capacity and that it expects third-quarter revenue to fall 3% to 4%, easily better than the 8.2% decline in the second quarter. Meanwhile, traffic was up 6.2%, which was better than capacity growth of 5.7%. Load factor — another important airline metric — was up 40 basis points to 87.4%.
Today was a much-needed respite. Shares of JBLU still are down about 25% year-to-date.
As of this writing, Todd Shriber did not hold a position in any of the aforementioned securities.
