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Rally among large-cap tech stocks helped the Nasdaq to end in the positive territory on Thursday. While the S&P 500 and the Dow closed in the red despite better-than-expected weekly jobless claims data. Investors seem dubious to push stocks amid gridlock over a second coronavirus stimulus bill.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJI) fell 80.12 points, or 0.3%, to close at 27,896.72 and the S&P 500 shed 6.92 points, or 0.2% to close at 3,373.43. The Nasdaq Composite Index closed at 11,042.50, adding 30.27 points, or 0.3%. The fear-gauge CBOE Volatility Index (VIX) decreased 0.7%, to close at 22.13. Declining issues outnumbered advancing ones for 1.07-to-1 ratio on the NYSE. While advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 1.01-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.
How Did the Benchmarks Perform?
A 11.2% decline in shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (CSCO - Free Report) weighed down the blue-chip Dow. Of the 11 major S&P 500 sectors, only technology and communication services closed in the green. The real estate and energy sectors where the biggest drag on the broader index closing at least 1.2% lower on Thursday.
On the other hand, rally among large cap tech stocks helped the Nasdaq close in the green. Shares of Tesla, Inc. (TSLA - Free Report) closed 4.3% higher, while Apple Inc. (AAPL - Free Report) , Netflix, Inc. (NFLX - Free Report) and Facebook, Inc. closed at least 1.2% higher for the day.
Overall, the S&P 500 posted 13 new 52-week highs and no new lows, while the Nasdaq Composite recorded 53 new highs and 16 new lows.
Initial Claims Better-than-feared
On Thursday, the Labor Department reported that initial jobless claims fell below 1 million in August for the first time since the coronavirus outbreak in March. Applications for initial unemployment benefits declined to 963,000 for the week ending Aug 8. The figure beats the estimate of 1.09 million and is below the previous week’s revised figure of 1.191 million.
New claims have witnessed second straight decline by almost 500,000 in the past two weeks. This decline also suggest that end of a temporary $600 federal unemployment stipend may have pushed more people to start looking for jobs again or return to work.
Investors Remain Alert on Stimulus Talks
Investors continue to keep a watchful eye as top lawmakers continue to wrangle over a new coronavirus-stimulus pack for American households and businesses.Unemployment benefits remain a snag in their talks and both Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said earlier this week that the two sides are far away from an agreement.
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Stock Market News for Aug 14, 2020
Rally among large-cap tech stocks helped the Nasdaq to end in the positive territory on Thursday. While the S&P 500 and the Dow closed in the red despite better-than-expected weekly jobless claims data. Investors seem dubious to push stocks amid gridlock over a second coronavirus stimulus bill.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJI) fell 80.12 points, or 0.3%, to close at 27,896.72 and the S&P 500 shed 6.92 points, or 0.2% to close at 3,373.43. The Nasdaq Composite Index closed at 11,042.50, adding 30.27 points, or 0.3%. The fear-gauge CBOE Volatility Index (VIX) decreased 0.7%, to close at 22.13. Declining issues outnumbered advancing ones for 1.07-to-1 ratio on the NYSE. While advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 1.01-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.
How Did the Benchmarks Perform?
A 11.2% decline in shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (CSCO - Free Report) weighed down the blue-chip Dow. Of the 11 major S&P 500 sectors, only technology and communication services closed in the green. The real estate and energy sectors where the biggest drag on the broader index closing at least 1.2% lower on Thursday.
Cisco Systems carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.
On the other hand, rally among large cap tech stocks helped the Nasdaq close in the green. Shares of Tesla, Inc. (TSLA - Free Report) closed 4.3% higher, while Apple Inc. (AAPL - Free Report) , Netflix, Inc. (NFLX - Free Report) and Facebook, Inc. closed at least 1.2% higher for the day.
Overall, the S&P 500 posted 13 new 52-week highs and no new lows, while the Nasdaq Composite recorded 53 new highs and 16 new lows.
Initial Claims Better-than-feared
On Thursday, the Labor Department reported that initial jobless claims fell below 1 million in August for the first time since the coronavirus outbreak in March. Applications for initial unemployment benefits declined to 963,000 for the week ending Aug 8. The figure beats the estimate of 1.09 million and is below the previous week’s revised figure of 1.191 million.
New claims have witnessed second straight decline by almost 500,000 in the past two weeks. This decline also suggest that end of a temporary $600 federal unemployment stipend may have pushed more people to start looking for jobs again or return to work.
Investors Remain Alert on Stimulus Talks
Investors continue to keep a watchful eye as top lawmakers continue to wrangle over a new coronavirus-stimulus pack for American households and businesses.Unemployment benefits remain a snag in their talks and both Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said earlier this week that the two sides are far away from an agreement.
Today's Best Stocks from Zacks
Would you like to see the updated picks from our best market-beating strategies? From 2017 through Q2 2020, while the S&P 500 gained an impressive +44.0%, five of our strategies returned +50.9%, +93.8%, +122.2%, +153.0%, and even +156.8%.
This outperformance has not just been a recent phenomenon. From 2000 – Q2 2020, while the S&P averaged +5.5% per year, our top strategies averaged up to +51.7% per year.
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