NASDAQ Jumps 4%+ This Week, While S&P, Dow Rise Over 3%

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Stimulus odds really ran the gamut this week from ‘hopeful’ through ‘pretty much dead’ and back to ‘somewhat possible’.

And through all these ups and downs, the market managed to gain in four of the past five days and put together one of its better weekly performances of late.

The NASDAQ jumped 4.6% over the five days for its third straight week of gains. The S&P rose 3.8% and the Dow increased 3.3%, giving these indices back-to-back weekly wins.

The stimulus yo-yo finished on Friday with President Trump raising his offer to $1.8 Trillion from $1.6 Trillion.

Just for fun, let’s recap all that happened this week. On Tuesday, POTUS abruptly called off negotiations of a big stimulus deal, but the next day he floated a smaller package targeting airlines and small businesses. Then on Thursday, Speaker Pelosi said “no” to a standalone deal. Now on Friday, we’ve got the President tweeting out “Go big!”

If your head hurts, you’re not alone. TGIF!

The bottom line is that the week finished on a positive note, giving the major indices a solid session to finish off all this craziness.

The NASDAQ jumped 1.39% (or about 158 points) on Friday to 11,579.94, while the S&P was up 0.88% to 3477.14. The Dow increased 0.57% (or around 161 points) to 28,586.90.

The market has enough to deal with right now, but there’s another big factor on the horizon… and we’re not talking about the election yet.

Earnings season begins next week with several of the major financials kicking things off. JPMorgan (NYSE:JPM) and Citigroup (NYSE:C) report on Tuesday, followed by Bank of America (NYSE:BAC), Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS) and Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) the rest of the week.

And that’s just the tip of the iceberg. There are plenty of non-financials going to the plate next week as well.

So let’s hope we get some clarity on stimulus moving forward, because the market will have its hands full with the beginning of earnings season.

Today's Portfolio Highlights:

Blockchain Innovators: You know how you can check into or out of a hotel on your phone? Or pretty much do anything during your stay without personal contact with another person? That’s what Agilysys (NASDAQ:AGYS) is all about. The company is in the hospitality software business, and it has partnered with payment platform (and major blockchain user) Adyen. Such contactless services were a convenience before the pandemic, but many will see it as a necessity afterwards. So expect blockchain to become even more integrated into AGYS. This Zacks Rank #2 (Buy) had a big earnings surprise last time and is expected to grow revenue more than 23% next year. Read the full write-up for more.

Healthcare Innovators: It was a great week for the CRISPR stocks as the “dynamic duo” that discovered this gene-editing game changer were awarded the Nobel Prize in chemistry. As a result, Intellia Therapeutics (NASDAQ:NTLA) was once again the top performer among all ZU names on Friday with a rise of 14.7%. It was up more than 30% this week, which made it one of the biggest movers over the past 30 days as well. NTLA is now the best performer in Healthcare Innovators by climbing nearly 96% since last November The portfolio’s other CRISPR names also had good weeks with Editas Medicine (NASDAQ:EDIT) up more than 18% and CRISPR Therapeutics (CRSP) advancing approximately 25%. By the way, this portfolio also had another winner today as Sangamo Therapeutics (SGMO) rose 9.5%.

Counterstrike: "I am not a fan of these headline bombs that come throughout the day. (T)hey are very reminiscent of the China Trade deal headlines we saw over a year ago. I still have no idea if there will be a deal, but the market seems to think so and stocks were bid... I would guess there is some clarity over the weekend on any stimulus and the market will react Sunday night.

"Looking past the stimulus, we will start to get some earnings coming our way next week. The financials will be reporting along with some other familiar names.

"This market is on fire once again. Its not just tech this time as many sectors are finding a bid. Solar, cannabis and miners are all very strong. I'm looking to add two stocks on Monday and from there we will focus on earnings." -- Jeremy Mullin, who had the second best performer among all ZU names on Friday with Turtle Beach (NASDAQ:HEAR) rising nearly 10.5%.

Have a Great Weekend!
Jim Giaquinto