Portfolio

US close: Stock market rally extends into third day

By Alexander Bueso

Date: Thursday 26 Mar 2020

US close: Stock market rally extends into third day

(Sharecast News) - Shares on Wall Street finished higher for a third consecutive session after the head of the country's central bank assured investors that more could be done if needed to help the economy through the fallout of the coronavirus epidemic.

That helped financial markets overcome news of a record surge in initial weekly unemployment claims.

"Those who thought that the passage of the $2 trillion stimulus might be time to 'sell the news' have been caught out, with an impressive rebound across Wall Street. Even the highest ever initial jobless claims figure has been unable to dent the boundless confidence apparent in US markets, perhaps because like European PMIs earlier in the week, everyone 'knew' it would be bad," said Chris Beauchamp, chief market analyst at IG.

Against that backdrop, the Dow Jones Industrials jumped 6.38% to reach 20,522.17 and the S&P 500 added 6.24% to 2,630.07, while the Nasdaq Composite adbvanced 5.6% to 7,797.54.

Yet the CBoE VIX volatility index fell just 4.61%, a possible signal that traders remained on their guard.

The yield on the benchmark 10-year US Treasury meanwhile dipped by one basis point to 0.85%.

In action reserved only for the most extraordinary circumstances, US Fed chief, Jerome Powell, gave an interview to a major broadcaster, NBC in this case, in which he assured viewers that "we will not run out of ammunition".

Overnight, the US Senate had approved a roughly $2trn economic relief bill that included funds to backstop up to $4.5trn in lending and debt purchases by the Federal Reserve, the country's central bank.

Nonetheless, the latest jobless claims figure brought the worsening conditions in the US economy and jobs market into stark relief.

According to the Department of Labor, over the week ending on 21 March, initial jobless claims soared by 3.283m (consensus: 2.0m) as economies moved to pare activity.

"The unprecdented surge [...] illustrates the extent of the economic devastation that the coronavirus has unleashed. To put that in perspective, claims have never exceeded 700,000 in a single week before," said Paul Ashworth, chief US economist at Capital Economics.

"Furthermore, there are good reasons to believe that understandable constraints on the capacity of offices to process claims mean that the true picture of layoffs is even worse."

Dow Jones - Risers

Boeing Co. (BA) $180.55 13.75%
Chevron Corp. (CVX) $76.38 10.26%
Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (WBA) $45.67 10.21%
Unitedhealth Group Inc. (UNH) $255.39 8.91%
United Technologies Corp. (UTX) $104.64 8.78%
Intel Corp. (INTC) $55.54 8.35%
Merck & Co. Inc. (MRK) $73.53 7.78%
Cisco Systems Inc. (CSCO) $40.58 7.72%
Home Depot Inc. (HD) $195.21 7.40%
Verizon Communications Inc. (VZ) $53.54 7.21%

Dow Jones - Fallers

Dowdupont Inc. (DWDP) $30.52 0.00%
Walmart Inc. (WMT) $109.82 0.38%
McDonald's Corp. (MCD) $167.35 2.68%
American Express Co. (AXP) $93.29 3.46%
3M Co. (MMM) $136.18 3.53%
Exxon Mobil Corp. (XOM) $38.82 4.10%
Visa Inc. (V) $168.88 4.39%
Walt Disney Co. (DIS) $105.36 4.60%
Apple Inc. (AAPL) $258.44 5.26%
Caterpillar Inc. (CAT) $110.50 5.57%

S&P 500 - Risers

Coty Inc. Class A (COTY) $6.68 24.16%
Wyndham Destinations Inc. (WYND) $25.30 17.51%
Sysco Corp. (SYY) $53.48 17.15%
Citizens Financial Group, Inc. (CFG) $20.72 17.00%
Fifth Third Bancorp (FITB) $17.32 16.87%
Fluor Corp. (FLR) $7.28 16.85%
Keycorp (KEY) $11.46 16.70%
HP Inc (HPQ) $17.94 16.64%
Gartner Inc. (IT) $105.12 16.40%
H&R Block Inc. (HRB) $15.88 15.07%

S&P 500 - Fallers

Macerich Co (MAC) $6.90 -10.74%
Macy's Inc. (M) $5.94 -10.14%
Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd (NCLH) $15.71 -7.37%
Gap Inc. (GPS) $8.45 -5.90%
L Brands Inc (LB) $13.14 -5.67%
Wynn Resorts Ltd. (WYNN) $71.51 -4.73%
Carmax Inc. (KMX) $60.92 -4.63%
Royal Caribbean Cr (RCL) $40.61 -4.24%
Freeport-McMoRan Inc (FCX) $6.99 -3.59%
Tyson Foods Inc. (TSN) $61.23 -3.10%

Nasdaq 100 - Risers

DENTSPLY Sirona Inc. (XRAY) $39.40 12.57%
Automatic Data Processing Inc. (ADP) $137.06 11.80%
Broadcom Inc. (AVGO) $243.17 11.78%
Lam Research Corp. (LRCX) $260.34 11.47%
Electronic Arts Inc. (EA) $99.20 10.66%
Illumina Inc. (ILMN) $274.42 10.51%
Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (WBA) $45.67 10.21%
Applied Materials Inc. (AMAT) $49.20 9.99%
Comcast Corp. (CMCSA) $36.74 9.44%
QUALCOMM Inc. (QCOM) $68.98 9.35%

Nasdaq 100 - Fallers

Wynn Resorts Ltd. (WYNN) $71.51 -4.73%
Marriott International - Class A (MAR) $82.81 -2.86%
Expedia Group Inc. (EXPE) $64.41 -2.25%
Tesla Inc (TSLA) $528.16 -2.06%
Analog Devices Inc. (ADI) $92.62 -1.84%
Ulta Salon, Cosmetics & Fragrance Inc. (ULTA) $188.83 -1.59%
Microchip Technology Inc. (MCHP) $74.52 -0.55%
Celgene Corp. (CELG) $108.24 0.00%
Shire Plc Ads (SHPG) $179.20 0.00%
Cintas Corp. (CTAS) $192.58 0.13%

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