The Nasdaq crashed and burned after an eight-day win streak
The long-term positive sentiment surrounding the U.S. reopening took an abrupt turn this week as Wall Street finally began to take into consideration the disturbing spike in cases, forcing some states to rescind their reopening plans. With all three benchmarks
starting out strong, piggybacking on last week's big wins,
the Nasdaq Composite (IXIC) pushed through to its eighth-straight daily win and record high on
Tuesday, encouraged by positive advances in the U.S.-China trade agreement.
Come Wednesday, however, the spiking number of COVID-19 cases in the U.S. started to rattle investors, abruptly halting the Nasdaq's win streak, and sending the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJI) over 710 points lower. As the mood quickly changed heading into the
rest of the week, worse-than-expected weekly jobless claims also
weighed. The major indexes, including the S&P 500 Index (SPX), still found a boost from
bank stocks, though
it wasn't enough to save all three from heading towards weekly losses.
Companies Making Headlines
After a turbulent and often disastrous couple of the months for many companies, various announcements and plans for navigating the future continue to grab headlines. Inside the struggling energy sector, General Electric Company (GE) named a new auditor for the 2021 fiscal year. Meanwhile, Salesforce.com (CRM) entered
a strategic partnership with
German firm Siemens, while Ally Financial canceled an acquisition.
AbbVie (ABBV) is beginning yet another collaboration,
worth up to $1 billion. Plus, as the Black Lives Matter movement makes various positive changes throughout the U.S., BlackRock's (BLK) CEO just committed to increasing the company's Black workforce.
3 Stocks Nabbing Record Highs
FactSet Research Systems (FDS), McCormick
& Company (MKC), and Winnebago (WGO) all hit record highs this week -- the first two after earnings,
while WGO instead fell off its peak following its quarterly report.
Meanwhile, blue-chip name Walmart (WMT) was upgraded on its "amplified earnings growth,"
with e-commerce a key factor.
More Jobs Data on Tap for Holiday-Shortened Next Week
There is a slew of jobs data out next week, which will likely be at the forefront of investors' minds, especially as spiking COVID-19 rates jeopardize the success of the slow economic reopening. Wall Street will also keep an eye on home sales and manufacturing numbers for the
month of June. For earnings, we will see reports from chip giant Micron (MU),
as well as FedEx (FDX).
Constellation Brands (STZ) and General Mills (GIS). In the meantime, traders can take a look at what Senior Quantitative Analyst Rocky White has to say about option vs. stock trading, or read up on when markets might be able to expect another volatility pop.