After a disappointing finish for markets last week, stocks are attempting to make recover some of the lost ground on Monday, amid optimism over Boeing and an avoidance of coronavirus concerns.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 449 points, or 1.8%, while the S&P 500 gained 1.1% and the Nasdaq Composite climbed 0.7%.
Aerospace giant Boeing rallied a massive 8.1% as certification flights for the long-struggling Boeing 737 Max were scheduled to start Monday, a step toward building momentum for investors, who have been awaiting this crucial step in the company’s worst-ever corporate crisis, which commenced in March 2019 after two tragic crashes in less than half a year killed 346 people.
While the markets are mixed to positive overall, there are a number of sectors that are showing gains today, including banking and financials, healthcare, and industrials. The iShares Dow Jones US Reg Banks Ind. ETF (IAT) is rallying Monday, up over 2%, while the iShares Dow Jones US Health Care ETF (IHF) has climbed 1.67%, and the Industrial Select Sector SPDR Fund (XLI) has added 2.19%.
The major averages also saw gains after the National Association of Realtors announced that pending home sales surged by a record 44.3% in May.
An expansion in the number of Covid-19 cases have still been plaguing markets, however, and stocks started the day in the red following data compiled by Johns Hopkins University that revealed that over 2.5 million coronavirus cases have been confirmed in the U.S. Just on Friday there were 45,255 additional cases reported, raising the country’s seven-day average to more than 41% from the prior week, with a notable increase in the number of positive tests in Florida, where people had been flocking to beaches amid the warm weather.
Still, analysts like Tom Lee of Fundstrat Global Advisors is comforted by the fact that the increase in infection numbers is not yet resulting in a spike in fatalities.
“While there were many alarming COVID-19 ‘headlines’ over the weekend, noting ‘record case’ numbers, daily US deaths attributed to COVID-19 fell to a new low of 253,” Lee said in an email to clients.
“And while many are inclined to become ‘full-blown’ bearish again, we think the divergence in healthcare in COVID-19 (cases vs deaths) and the trajectories mirroring NYC near its peak tells us” we may be close to the point when cases begin to slow, he added.
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