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Stock Market News for Aug 25, 2021

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U.S. stocks continued their winning-run on Tuesday supported by the FDA’s first full approval of COVID-19 vaccines. Reopening stocks regained market participants’ confidence with this medical development. However, investors are closely monitoring the developments in Fed’s Jackson Hole symposium that will start later this week. All three major stock indexes ended in green.

How Did The Benchmarks Perform?

The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJI) rose 0.2% to close at 35,366.26, reflecting the blue-chip index’s three-day winning streak. Notably, 16 components of the 30-stock index ended in the green while 14 in red.

Moreover, the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite finished at 15,019.80, gaining 0.5% due to strong performance by large-cap stocks. This marked a fresh closing high for the index. The tech-laden index hit an all-time high of 15,034.89 in intraday trading. For the first time the index crossed the technical barrier of 15,000.

Meanwhile, the S&P 500 moved up 0.2% to end at 4,486.23, marking a new closing high. The broad-market index hit an all-time high of 4,492.81 in intraday trading, reflecting its 50th all-time highs this year. The Energy Select Sector SPDR (XLE) rallied 1.7%. Six out of eleven sectors of the benchmark index closed in positive territory while five in red.

The fear-gauge CBOE Volatility Index (VIX) was up 0.4% to 17.22. A total of 8.97 billion shares were traded on Tuesday, lower than the last 20-session average of 9.08 billion. Advancers outnumbered decliners on the NYSE by a 2.17-to-1 ratio. On Nasdaq, a 1.82-to-1 ratio favored advancing issues.

Reopening Stocks Regain Confidence

On Aug 23, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration granted first approval to the COVID-19 vaccine developed by Pfizer Inc. (PFE - Free Report) and BioNTech SE (BNTX - Free Report) for people age 16 and above. The regulator also granted emergency-use authorization for those between 12 and 15 and for immunocompromised individuals who qualify for a third shot.

Full approval of a COVID-19 vaccine is extremely positive for air and leisure travel operators as well as casino, hotels, bars and restaurants. These companies are operating under strict restrictions in pandemic as vaccination for all are compulsory to travel and entertainment.

Consequently, shares of Las Vegas Sands Corp. (LVS - Free Report) , Wynn Resorts Ltd. (WYNN - Free Report) and Marriott International Inc. (MAR - Free Report) climbed 3%, 6.5% and 2.7%, respectively. Marriott carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

Fed’s Big Event in Focus

Fed officials will meet virtually for a 2-day Jackson Hole symposium, Wyo, starting Aug 26. On Aug 27, Fed Chairman Jerome Powell will address the nation about the decision taken in the symposium. Investors will keenly watch the event to gauge the mood of the majority Fed officials regarding the central bank’s ultra-dovish monetary policies that it has adopted at the onset of the global outbreak of coronavirus in March 2020.

Market participants will try to derive any signal for the Fed about the tapering of its existing $120 billion per month bond-buy program any time soon. The minutes of the latest FOMC meeting conducted in June revealed increasing numbers of Fed officials are now in favor of tapering this year.

Economic Data

The U.S. Census Bureau reported that new home sales in July increased 1% to an annual rate of 708,000, exceeding the consensus estimate of 692,000. June’s data was revised upward from 676,000 to 701,000. July marked the first month of increase in new home sales after the decline of three months in a row. However, new home sales in July plummeted 27% year over year.

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