Stock Market News for Aug 11, 2020

Wall Street closed mixed on Monday as the Dow and the S&P 500 ended in positive territory while Nasdaq Composite finished in the red. Investors' sentiments were boosted by President Donald Trump’s weekend signing of executive orders extending economic aid to fight the pandemic. However, growing geopolitical tensions between the United States and China partially offset that enthusiasm.

How Did The Benchmarks Perform?

The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJI) finished in a positive note for seven successive days after surging 1.3% or 357.96 points to close at 27,791.44. Notably, 21 components of the 30-stock blue-chip index ended in the green while 7 finished in red and 2 remained unchanged.

Meanwhile, the S&P 500 rose 0.3% to end at 3,360.47. This marked the seven-day winning streak of the broad-market index, its longest winning streak since April 2019. The Energy Select Sector SPDR (XLE) and the industrials Select Sector SPDR (XLK) jumped 3.1% and 2.5%, respectively.  Notably, six out of eleven sectors of the benchmark index closed in positive territory while five in negative territory.

However, the tech-laden Nasdaq Composite ended in negative territory for two successive days to close at 10,968.36, sliding 0.4%. Shares of tech behemoths like Netflix Inc. NFLX and Facebook Inc FB tanked 2.3% and 2%, respectively. Both stocks carry a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

The fear-gauge CBOE Volatility Index (VIX) was down 0.4% to 22.13. A total of 9.76 billion shares were traded on Monday, lower than the last 20-session average of 10.3 billion. Advancers outnumbered decliners on the NYSE by a 2.45-to-1 ratio. On Nasdaq, a 1.56-to-1 ratio favored advancing issues.

President Trump Signs Executive Orders

On Aug 8, President Donald Trump signed four executive orders to extent some relief to coronavirus-driven economic devastations as U.S. Congress failed to reach an agreement on a fresh dose of fiscal stimulus.

First, the unemployment benefit of $400 per week will be given instead of $600 per week given earlier, which ended by the end of July. Second, a payroll tax holiday will be provided through the end of the year to Americans earning less than $100,000 per year. In addition, the Treasury Department was instructed to allow employers to defer payment of the employee portion of certain payroll taxes.

Third, the President has deferred student loan repayment through 2020. Fourth, President Trump also extended the federal protection from evictions.

Meanwhile, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin that the Trump administration is ready to further negotiate with Democrats and may provide more money as fiscal stimulus if it was required to an amicable solution.

U.S. - China Tensions Heighten

On Aug 10, China imposed unspecified sanctions against eleven U.S. politicians and heads of organizations promoting democratic causes. President Donald Trump on Thursday issued executive orders banning U.S. companies from doing business with Chinese tech firms Tencent and ByteDance. Tencent is the owner of messaging app WeChat whine ByteDance controlled widely popular short video-sharing app TikTok. According to CNBC, The Trump administration will impose a fresh round of sanctions on 11 individuals, including Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam.

Economic Data

The Department of Labor in its Job Openings and Labor Turnover Summary report stated that job openings rose 518,000 to 5.9 million in June compared with 375,000 job openings in May.

Zacks’ Single Best Pick to Double

From thousands of stocks, 5 Zacks experts each picked their favorite to gain +100% or more in months to come. From those 5, Zacks Director of Research, Sheraz Mian hand-picks one to have the most explosive upside of all.

With users in 180 countries and soaring revenues, it’s set to thrive on remote working long after the pandemic ends. No wonder it recently offered a stunning $600 million stock buy-back plan.

The sky’s the limit for this emerging tech giant. And the earlier you get in, the greater your potential gain.

Click Here, See It Free >

Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report
 
Netflix, Inc. (NFLX) : Free Stock Analysis Report
 
Facebook, Inc. (FB) : Free Stock Analysis Report
 
To read this article on Zacks.com click here.
 
Zacks Investment Research