Wall Street had a mixed day on Tuesday with investor rushing to sell of tech stocks that had had dream run during the virus-induced lockdown, while they put money on sectors that took a beating during the pandemic. This saw the Nasdaq and S&P 500 ending the day in red. The Dow Jones, however, maintained its winning streak by building on the sharp gains from its previous session.
How Did The Benchmarks Perform?
The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJI) gained 0.9% or 262.95 points to end the day at 29,420.92, nearing its all-time closing high of 29,551.42 achieved in February.
However, the S&P 500 dropped 0.1% or 4.97 points to close at 3,545.53 as tech and consumer discretionary sectors fell sharply. The Technology Select Sector SPDR (XLK) and Consumer Discretionary Select Sector SPDR (XLY), which gained the most during the coronavirus pandemic, were the biggest losers, shedding 1.9% and 0.4%, respectively.
The tech-heavy Nasdaq shed 1.4% or 159.93 points to end at 11,553.86. The Big Tech were once again the biggest losers for the second consecutive session, with shares of Facebook, Inc.
FB
, Amazon,com, Inc.
AMZN
and Microsoft Corporation
MSFT
, declining 2.3%, 3.5% and 3.4%, respectively. Amazon, Facebook and Microsoft each carries 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 5.9% to 24.22. A total of 12.61 billion shares were traded on Tuesday, higher than the last 20-session average of 9.88 billion. Advancers outnumbered decliners on the NYSE by a 1.80-to-1 ratio. On Nasdaq, a 1.53-to-1 ratio favored advancing issues.
Investors Try to Gauge Situation
Investors got control over their emotions a bit on Tuesday after stocks rallied in the previous session following Pfizer, Inc.’s
PFE
announcement that its vaccine candidate showed positive results from their final-stage trail. On late Monday, the FDA gave Eli Lilly Company
LLY
emergency use authorization for use of its COVID-19 antibody drug, which gave investor confidence further boost.
This once again saw investors getting rushing toward sectors that had taken a beating during the pandemic, while tech stocks and consumer discretionary, which had been the biggest gainers during the pandemic, took a beating. However, investors are still unsure about the possible success of a vaccine and concerns that Monday’s sudden rally went a shade too far weighed on their confidence on Tuesday making it a mixed day for stocks.
Investors are also concerned about the economy’s performance and hopes of a vaccine is somewhat renewing their faith in the economy, which is seeing them making a shift toward value stocks, which have been gaining over the last two sessions.
Economic Data
In another sign of slow hiring rate in the United States, data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics showed that 5.87 million people were hired in September, lower than 5.95 hired in August. U.S. job openings increased 84,000 to reach 6.4 million through September.
Job opening declined the most in the accommodation and food services, retail and construction. Job separations, which include layoffs, dropped by 25,000 heads to 4.7 million.
Stocks That Made Headline
Lyft Shares Gain Despite Wider-Than-Expected Q3 Loss
Lyft, Inc.
LYFT
incurred a loss (excluding $0.56 from non-recurring items) of $0.90 per share in the third quarter of 2020, wider than the Zacks Consensus Estimate of a loss of $0.89. (
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)
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