Get 40% Off
🤯 This Tech Portfolio is up 29% YTD! Join Now to Get April’s Top PicksGet The Picks – Just 99 USD

Stocks - Wall Street Pares Early Gains as Consumer Sentiment Data Weigh

Published 04/24/2020, 09:18 AM
Updated 04/24/2020, 09:25 AM
© Reuters.

© Reuters.

By Geoffrey Smith 

Investing.com -- U.S. stock markets opened higher on Friday, but quickly pared gains as the market digested Thursday's disappointment over Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ:GILD)' experimental drug remdesivir, and took comfort in the passage of the latest $484 billion economic support package to be approved by Congress. 

By 10:15 AM ET (1415 GMT), the Dow Jones Industrial Average was effectively unchanged at 23,520 points. The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq Composite were both up 0.2%.  

Fiscal and monetary stimulus continue to be the main factors supporting many stocks close to the levels where they started the year. The Nasdaq is now down only 5.5% for the year to date, thanks largely to the pandemic accelerating structural shifts towards streaming, remote work and online shopping. 

Durable goods orders and consumer sentiment were the latest data points to show the extent of the damage on the economy, the University of Michigan sentiment index falling slightly less than expected from its preliminary measure to 71.8 - still a record low. Durable goods orders also collapsed, but held up better than expected once the highly volatile aircraft component was stripped out of it.  Boeing (NYSE:BA) stock fell 3.7% after it announced on Thursday it would halve production of the Dreamliner 787. 

Investors are warning that for the rest of the market, the path back to "normality" will be long and bumpy.

"What seems increasingly clear to us is that the path back to normal is looking more like a marathon than a sprint," said BlueBay Asset Management chief investment officer Mark Dowding in e-mailed comments.  He compared the fight against the virus to the First World War.

"At the onset of the First World War, there was initially a belief that it would be ‘all over by Christmas’, only for the grim reality of trench warfare to drag on for years to follow," Dowding said.

"This isn’t meant to be an overly bleak or pessimistic prognosis," he added, "just an admission that as we learn more, we need to accept and understand that it will be some time before life goes back to the way it was."

Elsewhere, Zoom Video (NASDAQ:ZM) rose another 5.6% to a fresh all-time high after being included in the Nasdaq 100 index, while oil and gas stocks rose across the board after Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin hinted at a rescue facility for the industry.

U.S. crude futures have settled into a range after the volatility earlier this week around settlement of the May futures contract, and were up 4.1% at $17.17 by 10:10 AM.

Exxon Mobil (NYSE:XOM) stock was up 1.2%, while the more highly levered Oasis Petroleum  (NASDAQ:OAS) was up 11.7%. 

Intel (NASDAQ:INTC) stock was down 2.9% after reports that its chips will be dropped from Apple's (NASDAQ:AAPL) next generation of Mac computers, while Verizon (NYSE:VZ) stock fell 0.7% after it took a $228 million charge against possible non-payment of bills as customers lost their jobs in droves due to the pandemic.

Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA) stock gained 4.5% as speculative interest on a rapid pharmaceutical breakthrough to beat the virus shifted out of Gilead.

Latest comments

this article misleads investors. the writer does not understand the market. the market is down.
the boomers screwed up financially again. superboom trump is here to help all of the care up 75 year old rich kids.
yes
finally a sane point of view
There is no drug effetively k ill any virus 100%. A drug can be never found. U have to use a coctail of. Any drug that slow down any virus can slow this virus down but not cure.
yes there is drug Trump's tweets lol
Most risky thing is that somebody who asks to inject disinfectant is leading a country. speaking chimpanzee...
he just don't know science language at all but I think he talks about washing blood cleanin with ozone systems different version just addbuv light to cleaning system directly later clean blood recirculate to your system so that less virus counts easy to threat but it is not so easy threatment maybe rich people can use...
using radioactive material to prevent and cure some forms of cancer is a proven technique. You need to do better research before speaking out. Your comments are out of place. No kidding you are a Trump supporter. Buy yourself some Lysol.
Risk Disclosure: Trading in financial instruments and/or cryptocurrencies involves high risks including the risk of losing some, or all, of your investment amount, and may not be suitable for all investors. Prices of cryptocurrencies are extremely volatile and may be affected by external factors such as financial, regulatory or political events. Trading on margin increases the financial risks.
Before deciding to trade in financial instrument or cryptocurrencies you should be fully informed of the risks and costs associated with trading the financial markets, carefully consider your investment objectives, level of experience, and risk appetite, and seek professional advice where needed.
Fusion Media would like to remind you that the data contained in this website is not necessarily real-time nor accurate. The data and prices on the website are not necessarily provided by any market or exchange, but may be provided by market makers, and so prices may not be accurate and may differ from the actual price at any given market, meaning prices are indicative and not appropriate for trading purposes. Fusion Media and any provider of the data contained in this website will not accept liability for any loss or damage as a result of your trading, or your reliance on the information contained within this website.
It is prohibited to use, store, reproduce, display, modify, transmit or distribute the data contained in this website without the explicit prior written permission of Fusion Media and/or the data provider. All intellectual property rights are reserved by the providers and/or the exchange providing the data contained in this website.
Fusion Media may be compensated by the advertisers that appear on the website, based on your interaction with the advertisements or advertisers.
© 2007-2024 - Fusion Media Limited. All Rights Reserved.