Stocks ended mostly higher on Wednesday, with the tech sector recovering from the losses made earlier in the week, after growing cases of coronavirus once again raised fears in the minds of investors. This somewhat slowed down the rally of those stocks that are expected to gain from a cyclical economic recovery. The Nasdaq and S&P 500 ended the day in green, while the Dow Jones snapped its two-day winning streak.
How Did The Benchmarks Perform?
The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJI) dropped 0.1% or 23.29 points to end the day at 29,339.54, after marking its best day in terms of percentage gains since Jun 5 on Monday.
The S&P 500 gained 0.8% or 27.17 points to close at 3,572.72, marking its second-highest close ever, as tech and consumer discretionary sectors bounced back from previous session’s losses. The Technology Select Sector SPDR (XLK) and Consumer Discretionary Select Sector SPDR (XLY) gained 2.4% and 0.9%, respectively.
The tech-heavy Nasdaq gained 2% or 232.57 points to end the day at 11,786.43. Tech stocks led the rally, with shares of Apple, Inc.
AAPL
Alphabet, Inc.
GOOGL
and Microsoft Corporation
MSFT
, gaining 3%, 0.6% 2.6%, respectively. Microsoft has a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). 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 1.04% to 23.76. A total of 9.65 billion shares were traded on Wednesday, lower than the last 20-session average of 9.94 billion. Advancers outnumbered decliners on the NYSE by a 1.09-to-1 ratio. On Nasdaq, a 1.31-to-1 ratio favored advancing issues.
Surging Coronavirus Cases Dampen Investors’ Spirit
Surging cases of coronavirus infections once again ignited fears in the minds of investors on Wednesday. The announcement by Pfizer, Inc.
PFE
on Monday that its vaccine candidate showed 90% success in its final-stage trail sent stocks on a rally. However, with coronavirus cases on the rise, investors once started casting doubts over a cyclical economic recovery.
This saw investors going for tech stocks, which were the biggest beneficiaries during the pandemic, and once again moved out of cyclical stocks that are likely to benefit from an economic recovery. Energy and financial stocks were the biggest laggards. The United States has recorded more than 10.3 million cases of coronavirus.
There were no economic reports on Wednesday due to Veterans Day holiday.
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