It wasn’t the Monday that investors were expecting. On Sunday evening, ahead of the Super Bowl, Asian equities were getting hammered and U.S. stock futures were set to open down. Surprisingly, they opened higher and those gains carried through into the stock market today.
The S&P 500 rallied over 1% at one point, as investors surprisingly bid stocks higher in the face of global equity losses. Is that the all clear? Perhaps not, but at least for a day the bulls were back in control.
Coronavirus Update
The latest numbers out of China report that the virus has resulted in 361 deaths, with more than 17,000 confirmed cases. In total, one more death has been recorded outside of China, with more than 17,500 cases reported worldwide, 11 of which are in the U.S.
On the plus side, more than 550 recoveries have been recorded as well, which is an encouraging sign. Also on the plus side, while the coronavirus continues to grow, the rate of growth and the mortality rate continue to fall.
Looking to help is Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ:GILD). The company said it has cleared a trial with the Chinese authorities and will attempt to treat the coronavirus. The trial will take place in Wuhan. Shares of Gilead rose 5% as a result.
On the flip side, Carnival Cruise (NYSE:CCL) shares slipped 1.8% on Monday after reports that one of its prior passengers tested positive for coronavirus. Remember, CCL sold off last week after holding one of its ships at port for a suspected (but later negative) case of coronavirus.
Royal Caribbean (NYSE:RCL) and Norwegian Cruise Line (NYSE:NCLH) sold off more than CLL at one point, but ended lower by 0.5% and higher 0.6%, respectively.
Across the Pacific, the Shanghai Composite shed almost 8% in its first trading session since reopening after the Chinese New Year. Asian equities were sold hard despite the country’s pressure to curb large stock sales and to limit short selling. Further, authorities injected 1.2 trillion yuan (almost $174 billion) into the financial system, its largest since 2004.
It didn’t help. Over 2,500 equities hit their maximum limit down loss of 10%, as did several commodities, while the yuan also lost ground.
Movers in the Stock Market Today
There was more to the stock market today than coronavirus news. For instance, look no further than Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA).
This stock can’t be stopped right now, surging another 19.9% to new all-time highs. Shares now sport a 52-week high of $786.14 and a return of 344% from the June lows. Those with long-lasting short positions have to be hurting big time right now.
Helping sending shares higher was CATL, a Chinese battery company, disclosing that it signed a supply deal with Tesla. It’s giving bulls belief that the opportunity in China is even larger than they had assumed. Of course, it only helps when Wedbush analysts reiterate their long-term bull case price target of $1,000 and when ARK Invest, a long-time bull, says their base case price target for 2024 is $7,000.
That said, Wedbush has an official $710 price target on the stock, while Argus just published a Street-high target of $808.
Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS) already got into banking with its Marcus unit. Now it’s reportedly looking to get into lending for small- and medium-sized businesses. Even further, it’s looking to utilize Amazon’s (NASDAQ:AMZN) lending platform and could launch as early as next month.
The Kansas City Chiefs won the Super Bowl, and so did Fox (NASDAQ:FOXA, NASDAQ:FOX). It was the tenth most-watched Super Bowl ever, with 102 million viewers tuning in. Fox TV hit 99.9 million viewers, representing the first year-over-year gain in four years. Shares climbed 1.4% on Monday.
Bret Kenwell is the manager and author of Future Blue Chips and is on Twitter @BretKenwell. As of this writing, Bret Kenwell is long AMZN.
