The S&P 500 (barely) and Nasdaq moved into positive territory as big tech gains and expectations of the U.S. economy reopening outweighed the potential for new spikes in coronavirus cases, plus more in today’s Closing Bell on Money & Markets.
The Top Story
While the Dow Jones moved over 100 points lower, technology shares pushed the Nasdaq to its sixth consecutive upward advance. The tech-heavy index is now up about 3% year-to-date.
All three major U.S. indexes remain within 20% of all-time highs reached in February, with the Nasdaq is within 10% of its closing record on Feb. 19.
Wall Street continues to gain despite weak data on the economy, including a continued drop in U.S. payrolls.
“I don’t know who would be selling going into the reopening of the economy, saying I’m going to take my ball and go home now,” SlateStone Wealth LLC Chief Investment Strategist Robert Pavlik said. “A lot of professional investors are fearful of missing out and that has kept them in the market begrudgingly.”
A surge of new coronavirus infections in Germany and South Korea suggested early efforts to lift restrictions could be premature, even as businesses around the world, shuttered by social distancing restrictions, begin reopening their doors.
Of the 11 major sectors in the S&P 500, five were in the black, with health care enjoying the largest percentage gain.
Stock Market Update: Closing Bell*
S&P 500: 2,930 (+0.01%)
DOW: 24,221 (-0.45%)
NASDAQ: 9,192 (+0.78%)
GOLD: $1,699.30 (-0.846%)
BITCOIN: $8,710.12 (-0.02%)
U.S. 10-YEAR YIELD: 0.707% (+0.026%)
*- as of 4:15 p.m.
A Big Win
In this morning’s Opening Bell, we told you to be on the lookout for AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc. (NYSE: AMC). Reports surfaced that the movie theater chain was drawing acquisition interest from Amazon.com Inc. (Nasdaq: AMZN). Shares of AMC rose about 30%.
We also told you to watch Tesla Inc. (Nasdaq: TSLA) after sales of its Model 3 vehicle dropped 64% in China. CEO Elon Musk also threatened to pull the company out of California if COVID-19 restrictions weren’t eased. Shares of Tesla were fell about 1.1%.
Shares of Coty Inc. (NYSE: COTY) jumped more than 14% in premarket trading after the company said it reached a deal with KKR for $4.3 billion to sell a majority stake in its Wella and Clairol brands. However, shares of Coty fell about 8.1% for the day.
Golden Nuggets
Most precious metal prices tumbled as the U.S. dollar gained more momentum to start the week. The jump in the dollar prompted some selling pressure.
Gold futures moved 0.8% lower to trade at $1,699 an ounce. Silver futures also dropped 0.9% to $15.63 an ounce.
Platinum was down 1.1% to $780 an ounce, while palladium actually jumped 0.9% to trade at $1,837 an ounce.
Cannabis Corner
Medical marijuana provider Trulieve has seen its market share in Florida jump to 50% amid strong demand.
According to Marijuana Business Daily, the market share gains by the company could reflect on cash-flow issues faced by other operators in the state or competitor’s inability to meet increasing demand.
Saudi Arabia Pledges More Oil Cuts to Push Prices Higher
After already pledging to cut oil production in April, Saudi Arabia plans to make even deeper cuts to help revive the oil market it helped crash.
The kingdom said Monday it will trim its oil production by another 1 million barrels per day in June — taking its production to just 7.5 million barrels — according to CNN Business.
The cuts illustrate just what the oil price drop has done to the nation’s budget as the it needs prices to double just to balance things out.
Today’s Big Winners:
(as of 3:15 p.m. EDT)
Zoom Video Communications Inc. (Nasdaq: ZM) +6.9%
Cardinal Health Inc. (NYSE: CAH) +6.8%
Pfizer Inc. (NYSE: PFE) +2%
Today’s Big Losers:
(as of 3:15 p.m. EDT)
Under Armour Inc. (NYSE: UA) -11%
United Airlines Holdings Inc. (Nasdaq: UAL) -5.2%
American Express Co. (NYSE: AXP) -3.7%
Check back for the most important news and numbers each day after the Closing Bell, only on Money & Markets.
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