The NASDAQ remains in a world all by itself, as the tech index secured another record on Thursday while its counterparts dropped amid the rise in coronavirus cases.
It wasn’t even close! The NASDAQ didn’t eke out a modest gain in an otherwise difficult session. It rose a solid 0.53% (or about 55 points) to 10,547.75.
That was a much better result than the other major indices, which were hampered by rising virus cases in states like Florida and California.
The Dow dropped 1.39% (or about 361 points) to 25,706.09, while the S&P was off 0.56% to 3152.05.
Stocks did finish well off their lows of the session.
In another example of the different roads being taken right now, the Dow goes into Friday’s session lower for the week by nearly half a percentage point, but the NASDAQ is up more than 3% over the same time.
Last week was solid all around with the NASDAQ and S&P both up 4% or more and the Dow adding 3.2%.
But there was some good news on Thursday as well. Jobless claims came in at 1.314 million last week, which continued the downward trajectory while also beating expectations of around 1.38 million.
Here we go into Friday with the week hanging in the balance… well, maybe not the NASDAQ. Stocks have been resilient in the face of a pandemic that just won’t go away, though it continues to be susceptible to any negative headline.
What will tomorrow’s headlines be? Hopefully we’ll get some good news on a vaccine (the market always loves that) or maybe a surprise reduction in cases. It sure would be nice to go into earnings season next week with some forward momentum.
Today's Portfolio Highlights:
Commodity Innovators: The portfolio added the following three positions on Thursday:
• Energy Select Sector SPDR ETF (NYSE:XLE)
• Kirkland Lake Gold (NYSE:KL)
• IPath Series B Bloomberg Livestock Subindex Total Return ETN (COW)
Jeremy considers XLE and COW to be long-term holdings, while KL is meant for the mid-term. XLE and KL have pulled back to buyable levels, and COW is a bet on an improving economy. Get specifics on each of these buys in the full write-up.
Stocks Under $10: The portfolio cashed in a double-digit winner and got “some of the red out” on Thursday. Shares of Cornerstone Building Brands (NYSE:CNR) were down today, so Brian decided to sell this manufacturer of exterior building products for a gain of 18.6% in a little over three months. The editor also sold Duluth Holdings (NASDAQ:DLTH) and Costamare (NYSE:CMRE), which were the portfolio’s biggest losers.
Technology Innovators: Shares of Workiva (NYSE:WK) have flatlined over the past few weeks, so Brian thought this was a good time to cash in this business analytics company. When this name was added back in April, the editor saw a lot of potential in this environment for a cloud-based and mobile-enabled platform provider. And he was right! The WK position brings a return of 66.5% in less than three months. The portfolio also sold EVO Payments (EVOP).
All the Best,
Jim Giaquinto
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