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S&P 500 Notches Best Quarter Since 1998

Published 06/30/2020, 03:57 PM
Updated 06/30/2020, 04:05 PM
© Reuters.

© Reuters.

By Yasin Ebrahim

Investing.com – Wall Street surged in the final hours of trading on Tuesday, closing out its best quarter in more than two decades following a soft first quarter.  

TheS&P 500 gained 1.53%, taking gains for the second quarter to over 20%. The Dow rose 0.84%, or 215 points, and the Nasdaq Composite rose 1.87%.

The positive end to the day for the broader market comes despite further signs that the pace of Covid-19 infections is accelerating, forcing several states including California and Texas to roll back plans to lift restrictions on reopening businesses.

Cases in the U.S rose by at least 43% and deaths increased by 20%, a Reuters analysis on Tuesday showed.

Following the rise in cases, airlines and cruise operators were under pressure, with American Airlines (NASDAQ:AAL) and Carnival (NYSE:CCL) trading lower.

In testimony before the House Financial Services Committee, Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said a second wave of the coronavirus outbreak could "force government and force people to withdraw again from economic activity ... and "undermine public confidence, which is what we need to get back to lots of economic activity." 

Tech, which has recently taken a breather, resumed its climb higher, buoyed by a jump in chip stocks following positive earnings reports from companies in the sector.

Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU) rose 4.8% after its fiscal third-quarter results and guidance topped consensus estimates, led by growth in cloud demand. "We do believe that cloud demand in the second half of the calendar year will continue to be healthy for us," said Sanjay Mehrotra, Micron’s chief executive, on a conference call.

Xilinx (NASDAQ:XLNX) jumped 7% after raising its fiscal first-quarter revenue guidance. The company said it now expects revenue of $720 million to $734 million, after previously guiding revenue in a range of $660 million to $720 million.

Lam Research (NASDAQ:LRCX), NVIDIA (NASDAQ:NVDA) and Advanced Micro Devices (NASDAQ:AMD) were also among the biggest gainers, pushing the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index up more than 2%.

Energy, however, lagged the move higher in the broader market, paced by a 1% fall in oil prices settled as worries over crude demand persisted.

Elsewhere, Boeing (NYSE:BA) fell 5.8% giving up some of its gains from Monday, after Norwegian Air canceled orders for 97 Boeing 737 Max and 787 jets, and said It would seek compensation for the grounding of the 737.

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA), meanwhile, surged to all-time highs, up 7%, ahead of its the second quarter delivering and production numbers expected later this week.

On the economic front, the Conference Board’s consumer confidence gauge rose to 98.1 this month from 85.9 in May, beating economists’ forecast for a reading of 90.8.

Latest comments

The photo IS from 1998, they photo shopped in a Trump hat because people were catching on to the photos from the 80s and 90s.
Haha does look fake and nobody wearing masks!
Looks like the bulls caught many shorters with their pants down again from the sounds of their "sky is falling" whining
I think you all should sell, sell, sell. More for me to buy.
so riddle me this Batman? How can have a huge rally when90% of all businesses closed for two + months earning zero income. are they somehow magically going to make that income up?
Just mid-year window dressing by funds. Tomorrow will see the opposite effect.
Will continue trading sideways till September. Then massive buying before the elections to be followed by a) profit taking of Trump wins or b) crash if Biden wins. Corona is no longer news unless it comes back 100 times stronger than the first time.
30,000 is likely going to happen by the end of the year if we have an Republican Senate and Congress.
That has 0% chance of happening
This is because the market is undervalued. Look at tech, house buying, online sales! It is skyrocket. Market will go up as it should.
Look at everywhere else..
James, where do you live...Dreamland?
i suspect malicious fund managing for final 2q bonus before big depression nearby
this is insane, the crash is going to be huge! doomsday is near
Does everyone think that the market will crash?When do you guys think will be?
Market crash or USA bankruptcy, choose one
market will not crash again. market already crashed in March. there will be corrections bit the crash is behind long ago
DXY will, stonks and assets skyrocket, no yield on anythin but some equities
Love it! The higher it goes that harder its going to fall!
But u dont know when thats the probleem 1 day or 1 year from now!
How?
Gotta love the Trump hat in the photo.
Recession on the way. These guys still dreaming like 2008. Looks obviously like market manipulation.
Pay attention, market is undervalued.
The beginners who are baffled by this market and keep posting ridiculous conspiracies should watch CNBC and learn the basics of investing....and always make sure you have plenty of emergency cash on hand at all times.
*ridiculous conspiracy theories
CNBC??...seriously. HaHaHa. That's the Wall St Channel
watch CNBC?! HAAAHH!!! why not read a coloring book and learn there
I am him
No. It was not all earned by investors. The fed actions were the main driver. Facetious article.
With fed buying and liquidity and poor fundamentals what a joke
sour shorter
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