What coronavirus? U.S. equities pushed higher again on Tuesday, with the S&P 500, Dow Jones Industrial Average and Nasdaq Composite all notching new all-time highs.
Given what’s going on in China — with more than 40,000 coronavirus cases and more than 1,000 deaths — it’s clear this is a serious situation. Combined with the quarantines, shut-downs and supply chain disruptions, it’s also clear that there will be economic realities to face thanks to the new virus.
But it’s also clear that the stock market doesn’t care. U.S. equities continue to draw in investors, no matter the headlines.
Sprint and T-Mobile Tie Up
Making waves this morning? Sprint (NYSE:S) and T-Mobile (NASDAQ:TMUS), which rallied 77.7% and 11.8% on Tuesday. Just earlier this month, Sprint stock was hitting a new 52-week low. Now it’s at a 52-week high.
The rallies came after a federal judge gave the green light to Sprint and T-Mobile’s long-lasting merger attempts. The two will finally be able to combine into one company and investors — who recently seemed to doubt it would happen — are celebrating on Tuesday.
As for impact in the telecom space, AT&T (NYSE:T) reacted by falling 0.4%, while Verizon (NYSE:VZ) slumped 2.6%.
Tower stocks expect it to be a win, though. American Tower (NYSE:AMT) climbed more than 4%, Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI) jumped more than 5% SBA Communications (NASDAQ:SBAC) rallied more than 7%. All three hit new 52-week highs.
Movers in the Stock Market Today
Wells Fargo (NYSE:WFC) is switching things up with plans to split its three business units into five. CEO Charles Scharf — formerly with Visa (NYSE:V) — hopes this new model will bring greater focus and accountability to the brand. The wholesale bank unit will also be split into an investment and commercial bank as well and its consumer lending unit will be branching out on its own.
Antitrust concerns continue to linger for big tech, with the Federal Trade Commission issuing orders to companies including Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG, NASDAQ:GOOGL), Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL), Facebook (NASDAQ:FB), Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) and Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT). The FTC is requesting information about previous acquisitions that were not reported to antitrust authorities. The companies will have to provide information dating back to 2010.
And perhaps one more thing to ruffle regulators’ feathers is news that Google’s YouTube unit is weighing the addition of subscription video services to its platform. It would reportedly operate like Amazon’s Prime offerings, allowing customers to sign up for HBO and other premium channel subscriptions.
Boeing (NYSE:BA) received zero orders last month for new airplanes, something that hasn’t happened in January since 1962. However, its rival Airbus (OTCMKTS:EADSY) secured 274 commercial airplanes in January. Of course, not helping matters is the fact that Boeing still has its previously best-selling 737 Max grounded.
Investors continue to see write-offs in the energy space. According to an U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filing, Occidental Petroleum (NYSE:OXY) is expecting to take a $1.7 billion charge in the fourth quarter related to its stake in Western Midstream Partners (NYSE:WES) and costs form its purchase of Anadarko Petroleum.
Heard on the Street
Advanced Micro Devices (NASDAQ:AMD) — which was showing signs of wanting to breakout on Monday — came through for bulls. The stock notched a new all-time high after RBC analysts upped their price target by $10 per share to $63. Even after Tuesday’s rally, it still implies almost 20% upside.
Nvidia (NASDAQ:NVDA) has been looking better too, hitting a new 52-week high for the second straight session. Analysts at Wells Fargo upped their price target from $270 to $290. The move comes a day after RBC increased their price target on Nvidia from $251 to $301.
Don’t forget, Nvidia reports earnings on Thursday after the close.
Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) may have well closed off its morning highs, but shares initially rallied after getting a price target boost from Morgan Stanley. Analysts now expect the stock to rally to $225, up almost 20% from current levels.
Bret Kenwell is the manager and author of Future Blue Chips and is on Twitter @BretKenwell. As of this writing, Bret Kenwell is long T, AMZN and NVDA.
