U.S. stock markets closed higher on Tuesday on the back of optimism surrounding COVID-19 vaccine. Moreover, investors’ sentiment was also buoyed by record high online retail sales on Cyber Monday. All three major stock indexes ended the day in green.
How Did The Benchmarks Perform?
The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJI) rallied 0.6%, or 185.28 points, closing at 29,823.92 snapping its losses from Monday. Notably, 23 components of the 30-stock index ended in green while 7 finished the day in red. The blue-chip index has become green 4.5% year to date.
The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite closed the day at 12,355.11, up 1.3%, or 156.37 points, on the back of strong performance by large-cap technology stocks, reversing its losses from Monday. Shares of Facebook, Inc.
FB
, Apple Inc.
AAPL
and Amazon.com, Inc.
AMZN
popped 3.5%, 3.1% and 1.6%, respectively. Notably, all three stocks carry a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see
the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here
.
Meanwhile, the S&P 500 gained 1.1%, closing the day at 3,662.45, giving up its losses from Monday. The Communication Services Select Sector SPDR (XLC) and the Financials Select Sector SPDR (XLF) popped 1.8% and 1.5%, respectively. Notably, ten out of eleven sectors of the benchmark index closed in the positive zone and one in the red.
The fear-gauge CBOE Volatility Index (VIX) was up 0.2% to 20.77. A total of 13.5 billion shares were traded on Tuesday, higher than the last 20-session average of 11.5 billion. Advancers outnumbered decliners on the NYSE by a 2.45-to-1 ratio. On Nasdaq, a 1.38-to-1 ratio favored advancing issues.
Positive Developments on COVID-19 Vaccine Front
Wall Street closed higher on Tuesday to start December on a positive note surrounded by optimism on the COVID-19 vaccine front. Several pharmaceutical companies are now seeking regulatory approvals in the United States as well as Europe which bodes well for economic recovery. In the latest development, Pfizer, Inc.
PFE
and BioNtech SE
BNTX
have sought approval for emergency use of their vaccine from the European Medicines Agency. The companies also previously applied to the FDA for emergency use authorization. Meanwhile, Moderna, Inc.
MRNA
also stated on Monday that it would seek emergency use authorization for its vaccine candidate in both the United States and Europe.
Online Retail Sales at Record High
The U.S. stock markets cheered the record online retail sales on Cyber Monday. Per the data released by Adobe Analytics, consumers spent $10.8 billion online, up 15.1% from last year, becoming the largest day in terms of online shopping in the United States.
Economic Data
The U.S. Census Bureau reported that construction spending increased 1.3% in October compared to a revised fall of 0.5% in September, beating the consensus estimate of 0.8% increase.
The Institute of Supply Management (ISM) reported that the U.S. manufacturing purchasing managers’ index (PMI) for November came in at 57.5. The consensus estimate was 57.8 for November while October’s PMI was 59.3. Notably, any reading above 50 indicates expansion in manufacturing activities. Moreover, November was the seventh successive month of manufacturing uptrend after the index hit an 11-year low of 41.5% in April.
Furthermore, 16 of the 18 industries tracked by ISM expanded in November. The New Orders Index also came in at 65.1, compared to 67.9 in October. Meanwhile, the Production Index came in at 60.8, compared to a reading of 63 in October.
The IHS Markit final U.S. manufacturing purchasing manager’s index (PMI) came in at 56.7 in November compared to 53.4 in October. Separately, the Caixin/Markit China manufacturing purchasing manager’s index (PMI) came in at 54.9 for November, compared to a reading of 53.6 in October.
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