Monday was a strong day for the stock market, as a combination of earnings, merger and acquisition activity, and hope for further interest rate cuts from the Federal Reserve helped lift investor sentiment. The month of October has often spooked market participants given the number of historical crashes that have happened during that month of the year, and the rising prospects of pushing into November near all-time highs is a vote of confidence from the investing community. Good news from several companies helped send their shares upward by even more than the broader benchmarks. Sanderson Farms (NASDAQ: SAFM), Spotify Technology (NYSE: SPOT), and Roku (NASDAQ: ROKU) were among the top performers. Here's why they did so well.
Shares of Sanderson Farms jumped 16% on reports that the Chinese government is likely to allow imports of U.S. poultry as part of trade negotiations between the two countries. Tariffs and other trade restrictions have created gluts of many food products in the U.S. market, helping to bring down prices for consumers but hurting revenue for producers. If China becomes a significant market for exporting chicken, then it should lead to less supply for U.S. consumers, pushing prices higher. Moreover, with health concerns over swine flu causing some in China to consider shifting from pork toward eating more chicken, the move couldn't come at a better time for Sanderson Farms and its peers.
Image source: Sanderson Farms.