Major benchmarks moved higher on Thursday, buoyed by high hopes out of Europe. Officials agreed to a tentative Brexit deal that should allow the U.K. and the European Union to disentangle themselves from their past relationship without some of the worst-case scenarios that investors had feared playing out. Earnings reports also kept many market participants happy. Cronos Group (NASDAQ: CRON), Limelight Networks (NASDAQ: LLNW), and Alcoa (NYSE: AA) were among the top performers. Here's why they did so well.
Shares of Cronos Group jumped 5.5% after investor interest in the marijuana stock reached a peak late Wednesday following the end of the normal trading day. At certain points during the after-hours session, Cronos traded up as much as 40%, and volume soared above normal levels. Some speculated that institutional investors might be engaging in a rebalancing of their portfolios in a way that necessitated buying more shares of the cannabis company. Given how far Cronos and its peers have fallen lately, shareholders welcomed even what turned out to be a small bounce and hope that it'll be a sign that the marijuana sector is close to hitting bottom.
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