Weekly Stock Market Update

Market Closed Green in most sectors

Stock Market Update for Friday – October 9th, 2020
Here’s where the major markets ended today: MARKETS S&P 500 3,477 +30 +0.9%
Dow Jones 28587 +161 +0.6%
Nasdaq 11580 +159 +1.4%
Crude Oil 40.64 -0.55 -1.3%
Gold 1926.2 +31.1 +1.6%
As of market close And here are today’s highlights:

• Stimulus was the focus again today, and stocks rallied. The DOW finished higher by 161 points and ended with its best week since August.
• Earlier this week President Trump shut down stimulus talks and stocks dropped. But since then, Democrats and Republicans have been open to talks. And today Trump raised the Republican’s offer to $1.8 trillion (previously $1.6 trillion). And in a surprise move, the President said that he “would like to see a bigger stimulus package than either the Democrats or Republican’s are offering.” Up until now, the two parties have been battling it out over the amount of stimulus, with Republicans pushing for a smaller stimulus package.
• Microsoft (MSFT) and Salesforce (CRM) led the DOW with gains of 2.5% and 2.2%.
• Energy stocks retreated after yesterday’s big gains. Crude Oil (CL) finished the day with a 1.3% loss and companies like Valero (VLO) and Chevron (CVX) were both lower by 1.6% • Will the pandemic help General Electric (GE)? Goldman Sachs thinks so. Today GE ended with a 2.9% gain after Goldman raised its price target for the stock.

Market Update for Thursday – October 8th, 2020

Here’s where the major markets ended today:
MARKETS S&P 500 3,447 +27 +0.8%
Dow Jones 28426 +122 +0.4%
Nasdaq 11422 +57 +0.5%
Crude Oil 41.18 +1.23 +3.1%
Gold 1894.9 +4.1 +0.2%
As of market close And here are today’s highlights:

Stocks finished higher for the 2nd day in a row and ended at 1-month highs today. The S&P led the rally with an 0.8% gain.

Weekly Unemployment Claims showed that 840,000 Americans filed for unemployment. There were fewer people filing for unemployment than the previous week (849,000), but more than the 820,000 forecast.

Stimulus was in the spotlight again after House Speaker Nancy Pelosi shot down the President’s attempt to piecemeal aid, saying that there won’t be stand-alone stimulus for airlines. But on a positive note, President Trump did say that they are “starting to have some very productive talks.”

Airlines were all over the place after the news but eventually finished higher for the 2nd day in a row. United (UAL) and Delta (DAL) ended higher by 1.7% while American Airlines (AAL) finished with a 0.7% gain.

IBM (IBM) led the DOW today after news that the company plans to spin off its IT infrastructure unit. IBM ended the day with a 6.0% gain.

Energy stocks were higher after Crude Oil (CL) rallied another 3.1%. Crude Oil is up 11.2% since trading at lows not seen since June just a week ago. Chevron (CVX) finished the day with a 2.0% gain and Exxon (XOM) was up 5.3%.

Market Update for Wednesday – October 7th, 2020

Here’s where the major markets ended today:
MARKETS S&P 500 3,419 +59 +1.7%
Dow Jones 28303 +531 +1.9%
Nasdaq 11365 +210 +1.9%
Crude Oil 40.02 -0.65 -1.6%
Gold 1891.1 -17.7 -0.9%
As of market close And here are today’s highlights:

• Yesterday stocks tanked after President Trump told his “representatives to stop negotiating (stimulus) until after the election.” Traders were shocked and it looked like a stimulus plan was dead in the water until November. But Trump reversed his decision today (kinda) by tweeting support for some of the more important pieces of the stimulus package (airline payroll protection and stimulus checks). The President went as far as saying he’s ready to “sign right now” if a stand alone bill was presented to him.
• The DOW jumped 531 points today with its best day since July.
• Airlines jumped after Trump’s tweets, with United (UAL) rallying 4.3% and Delta (DAL) ending with a 3.5% gain.
• Netflix (NFLX) was a big winner today, up 5.7% after an analyst upgrade. The rally pushed Netflix to 1-month highs. • Eli Lilly (LLY) rallied 3.4.% after filing for emergency use authorization for its experimental virus antibody therapy.
• The Fed Minutes from September were released today. There really weren’t any surprises. But the minutes did re-confirm that the Fed is worried about a recovery if there isn’t any more fiscal stimulus to support the economy.

Market Update for Tuesday – October 6th, 2020

Here’s where the major markets ended today:
MARKETS S&P 500 3,361 -48 -1.4%
Dow Jones 27773 -376 -1.3%
Nasdaq 11155 -178 -1.6%
Crude Oil 40.67 +1.5 +3.7%
Gold 1908.9 -11.2 -0.6%
As of market close And here are today’s highlights:

• Stocks rallied this morning and were trading at 1-month highs in the afternoon.
• But at 2:48pm ET stocks tanked after stimulus related tweets from the President. Trump tweeted that he has “instructed my representatives to stop negotiating until after the election” accusing House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of “not negotiating in good faith.” The tweets were a big surprise since just over the weekend the President encouraged lawmakers to “work together” to get a deal done.
• The DOW was up more than 200 points before Trump’s tweets. By the end of the session the DOW was down 376 points.
• Earlier today, Fed Chair Jerome Powell urged Democrats and Republicans to find solutions for more aid, saying that stimulus is needed for the economic recovery to continue.
• You could argue the airline industry is one of the industries that needs a stimulus deal the most. And with news that there will be no stimulus until after the election, airlines dropped. American Airlines (AAL) was hardest hit, suffering a 4.5% loss followed by United Airlines (UAL) with a 3.7% drop.
• Boeing (BA) was hit with a double whammy. In addition to the stimulus slide, the company announced that they expect an 11% drop in demand for their commercial planes. The stock ended the day with a 6.8% loss.
• On a positive note, NVIDIA (NVDA) managed to squeak by with a win today, up 0.7% after an analyst upgrade.

Market Update for Monday – October 5th, 2020

Here’s where the major markets ended today:
MARKETS S&P 500 3,401 +60 +1.8%
Dow Jones 28149 +466 +1.7%
Nasdaq 11332 +257 +2.3%
Crude Oil 39.25 +2.20 +5.9%
Gold 1919.5 +11.9 +0.6%
*As of market close And here are today’s highlights:

• Traders were focused on two things today: President Trump and stimulus hopes.
• Stocks opened higher after news that President Trump is doing better than expected. Then stocks rallied to session highs after doctors reported that the President should be discharged from the hospital today. The President tweeted that he will be leaving Walter Reed Medical Center and feels “better than I did 20 years ago!”
• Today the NASDAQ led major indices with a 2.2% gain.
• Traders were also paying close attention to the prospect of a new stimulus deal. Last Thursday Democrats passed a $2.2 trillion dollar package. And over the weekend Trump tweeted for lawmakers to “work together and get it done.” Today House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin reportedly spoke on the phone for an hour but did not strike a deal.
• Over the weekend Trump received experimental treatments from Regeneron (REGN) and Gilead Sciences (GILD) the companies were up 7.1% and 2.3% respectively.
• Energy stocks were on the move today after Crude Oil (CL) rallied 5.9%. Valero (VLO) and Occidental Petroleum (OXY) were two of the biggest energy movers, rallying 5.8% and 6.5%.
• Economic data did little to move the markets today, but ISM Non-Manufacturing increased to 57.8% in September. The number showed that economic activity grew in the services sector at a better pace than the 55.6% expected.

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