Wall Street was split on Monday, as continued gains for technology and health care stocks helped cover up for more prevalent losses elsewhere.
The S&P 500 ended the day at a virtual standstill, up just 0.52 points at 2,930.32, despite a lot of movement going on underneath. It rallied back from an earlier loss of 0.9% in the morning.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 109.33 points, or 0.4%, to 24,221.99, while the Nasdaq composite added 71.02, or 0.8%, to 9,192.34.
Through the muddled day, one of the market’s few points of clarity was that investors continue to love technology stocks.
Even with the coronavirus pandemic throwing the global economy into disarray, tech stocks in the S&P 500 have been remarkably resilient. They’re up 4.1% for 2020 as investors look for companies that can be winners in both a ”normal” and a stay-at-home economy.
Apple rose 1.6%, Nvidia added 3.2% to return to a record and Advanced Micro Devices climbed 4.8% for one of Monday’s biggest gains in the S&P 500.
This year’s second-best sector has been health care, which has trimmed its loss for 2020 to just 1%.
Biotech stocks were particularly strong Monday. And Cardinal Health had the biggest gain in the S&P 500, up 6.7%, after reporting stronger-than-expected earnings for its latest quarter, partly because of increased pharmaceutical sales due to the pandemic.
Those gains helped to make up for 69% of stocks falling in the S&P 500. It also leaves the index within reach of its highest level since early March.
“People are looking ahead, and they’re saying, ‘OK, the pandemic has happened, and the damage has swept through our economy and our businesses, and now we’re planning on the growth after the carnage, so we’re valuing equities as if we’re going to go back to a decent growth environment,’” said Mike Zigmont, head of trading and research at Harvest Volatility Management.
The S&P 500 has rallied 31% since late March, at first on relief after the Federal Reserve and Capitol Hill pledged massive amounts of aid for the economy. More recently, some investors have focused on the possibility of a strong recovery later this year, after governments reopen economies and lift business-shutdown orders meant to slow the spread of the coronavirus.
That optimistic view took some hits Monday, though, as worries rose about the possibility of new waves of infections hitting countries that are further ahead in lifting lockdown measures. Investors pointed to small but disconcerting increases of infections in South Korea, China and elsewhere.
The worries helped lead companies whose profits are most closely tied to the strength of the economy to the market’s biggest losses.
“I don’t know why investors are feeling so comfortable with those expectations,” Zigmont said of forecasts for a turnaround in profit growth in 2021 and 2022. “They are so far away, and there’s so much uncertainty between now and then, and yet investors seem to be OK” with paying up in anticipation that companies will hit those targets.
Financial stocks fell 1.9% for the biggest loss among the 11 sectors that make up the index. Bank stocks have been hit hard this year on worries that the recession will lead to a wave of households and businesses defaulting on their loans. Bank of America dropped 4.2% Monday, and Citigroup lost 4.9%.
Energy companies and raw-material producers also fell on worries that a weaker global economy will need less oil and fewer basic building blocks.
The data streaming in on the economy remain oppressively bad. After a report on Friday showed U.S. employers cut a record-setting 20.5 million jobs in April, Italy reported Monday its largest-ever drop in industrial production. More data reports this week include U.S. unemployment claims and retail sales and Australian jobs.
Companies remain uncertain about the future, with many opting to give no financial forecasts during their latest quarterly earnings reports.
Even outside the possibility of a resurgence of infections, many analysts see other reasons for skepticism. Strategists at Goldman Sachs said the market appears to be downplaying a drop-off in buybacks and dividends as companies look to preserve cash, the threat of more U.S.-China trade tensions and the possibility that the upcoming U.S. elections could lead to higher corporate tax rates.
Most of all, companies themselves are talking about how uncertain the recovery looks, which stands in stark relief to the quick, vigorous rebound that the stock market seems to be assuming will happen.
In South Korea, for example, one nightclub customer has been linked to dozens of new infections. That pushed authorities to reimpose restrictions on nightclubs and bars, as well as delay the reopening of schools by a week. Investors also pointed to small but disconcerting increases of infections in China and in Germany.
“While the argument that forward-looking market hopes of recovery should override backward looking economic gloom may not be groundless, it inevitably understates inherent fragilities and risks,” Riki Ogawa of Mizuho Bank said in a report.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 203 points, or 0.8%, to 24,127, as of 9:45 a.m. Eastern time. The Nasdaq slipped 0.2%.
Stocks whose profits tend to track most closely with the strength of the economy had the biggest drops, underscoring the worries about a resurgence in infections.
Raw-material producers in the S&P 500 fell 2% for the biggest loss among the 11 sectors that make up the index. A weaker global economy wouldn’t need as many basic building blocks.
Financial stocks were also weaker than the rest of the market. They’ve been hit hard this year on worries that the recession will lead to a wave of households and businesses defaulting on their loans.
Smaller stocks also took steeper losses. They had been rising faster than their big rivals in recent weeks, but they usually fall more than the rest of the market when the economy is expected to struggle, in part because of their more limited financial resources. The Russell 2000 index of small-cap stocks was down 1.1%.
The data streaming in on the economy remain oppressively bad. After a report on Friday showed U.S. employers cut a record-setting 20.5 million jobs in April, Italy reported Monday its largest-ever drop in industrial production. More data reports this week include U.S. unemployment claims and retail sales and Australian jobs.
Companies remain uncertain about the future, with many opting to give no financial forecasts during their latest quarterly earnings reports. On Sunday, one of Latin America’s largest airlines, Chile’s Avianca, asked a New York City bankruptcy court for protection from creditors while the carrier reorganizes amid a travel slump it said has cut revenue 80%.
» TUESDAY’S CLOSE: Stocks end higher on Wall Street even after late-day stumble
Earlier, Asian markets were supported somewhat by the Chinese central bank’s promise to use “more powerful” policies to support economic recovery and job creation.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 rose 1%, while stocks in Shanghai were close to flat. South Korean stocks fell 0.5%.
In Europe, the French CAC 40 fell 1.6%, and Germany’s DAX lost 1.2%. The FTSE 100 in London slipped 0.4%. In Asia,
Investors hoping for reassurance were looking ahead to an appearance by U.S. Federal Reserve chairman Jerome Powell on Wednesday.
“He is certainly not going to walk back any of the Fed extraordinary stimulus measures,” said Stephen Inness of AxiTrader in a report. “If anything, he could lay it down even thicker.”
The yield on the 10-year Treasury slipped to 0.67% from 0.68% late Friday.
Benchmark U.S. crude rose 1% to $24.98 per barrel. Brent crude, the international standard, slipped 0.2%, to $30.92 per barrel.
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