Diamonds and Dogs

9/26/19

An upgrade for drug maker, AbbVie (ABBV). ABBVie is up 2% to a three-month high after the analyst at Citigroup upgraded the stock with a $90 price target, 20% above current levels. The analyst expects the pending acquisition of Allergan and better prospects for AbbVie's drugs, Skyrizi and Rinvoq to give the stock a boost and a catalyst to move higher going forward. The analyst previously had a sell rating on the stock.

Carnival (CCL) can't get out of its own way. The cruise operator is down 8% to back near its 52 week low after cutting its 2019 profit forecast for the third time this year. The company is blaming higher fuel prices, yet the price of oil is not far from its lows for the year. Fuel, a large part of cruise operators' operating costs, accounted for about 11.4% of Carnival's total operating expense. An attacked on Saudi Arabia a few weeks ago caused the price of oil to spike. A bigger problem may be the tensions on the Middle East impacting recent booking trends and ticket prices. A global economic slowdown isn't helping things as well.