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Stock Market News for Apr 12, 2021

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Benchmarks hit record levels on Friday, closing in the green for consecutive weeks as investors shrugged off inflation fears and focused on quarterly earnings season amid reopening optimism.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJI) rose 297.03 points, or 0.9%, to close at 33,800.60 and the S&P 500 rose 31.63 points, or 0.8%, to close at 4,128.80. The Nasdaq Composite Index closed at 13,900.19, adding 70.88 points, or 0.5%. The fear-gauge CBOE Volatility Index (VIX) decreased 1.5%, to close at 16.69. Advancing issues outnumbered advancing ones for 1-to-1 ratio on the NYSE, while a 1.5-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq favored decliners.

How Did the Benchmarks Perform?

The Dow hit an intraday all-time high of 33,810.87 on Friday, while the S&P 500 surged above the 4,100-point mark for the first time. More than 3% gain in shares of Honeywell International Inc. (HON - Free Report) , UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (UNH - Free Report) and salesforce.com, inc. (CRM - Free Report) pushed the Dow higher. Of the 11 major sectors of the broader index, eight closed in the positive territory with the health and consumer discretionary sectors standing out as the highest gainers, closing 1.2% higher on Friday.

The Nasdaq exited correction territory in the last session, backed by 5.3% jump in shares of Moderna, Inc. (MRNA - Free Report) , followed by more than 2% jump in shares of Align Technology, Inc. (ALGN - Free Report) , Copart, Inc. (CPRT - Free Report) , Amazon.com, Inc. (AMZN - Free Report) , Apple Inc. (AAPL - Free Report) and Okta, Inc. (OKTA - Free Report) .

Moderna hold a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

On Friday, the S&P 500 posted 37 new 52-week highs and no new lows, while the Nasdaq Composite recorded 124 new highs and 31 new lows. A total of 8.69 billion shares were traded on Friday, lower than the last 20-session average of 11.71 billion.

Markets Rally Despite Inflation Fears

Benchmarks clinched fresh records on Friday despite higher-than-expected inflation. In the last session, the U.S. Labor Department reported that the U.S. producer-price index rose 1% in March, surpassing the consensus estimate and February’s 0.5% rise. The wholesale prices have inflated significantly year-over-year and jumped 4.2% in March. This is the highest level since September 2011 and investors have adapted to the possibility of a surge in inflation as the economy tries to rebound from the pandemic’s wrath.

Additionally, news surrounding acceleration of vaccine rollout has also boosted stocks on Friday. Shares of Pfizer Inc. (PFE - Free Report) closed 1.8% higher after the company received emergency authorization for its COVID-19 vaccine to the age group between 12 and 15 years old.

Weekly Roundup

For the week ending Apr 9, the Dow and the S&P 500 extended their third consecutive winning streak despite inflation concerns, while the Nasdaq gained for two weeks in a row. The Dow, the S&P 500, and the Nasdaq closed nearly 2%, 2.7%, and 3.1% higher for the week. Market volatility has declined significantly last week and investors returned to purchase tech stocks, which eventually pushed the tech-laden Nasdaq higher. Share of bigwigs like Apple, Amazon, and Alphabet Inc. (GOOGL - Free Report) closed more than 6% higher for the week.

These Stocks Are Poised to Soar Past the Pandemic

The COVID-19 outbreak has shifted consumer behavior dramatically, and a handful of high-tech companies have stepped up to keep America running. Right now, investors in these companies have a shot at serious profits. For example, Zoom jumped 108.5% in less than 4 months while most other stocks were sinking.

Our research shows that 5 cutting-edge stocks could skyrocket from the exponential increase in demand for “stay at home” technologies. This could be one of the biggest buying opportunities of this decade, especially for those who get in early.

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