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Nasdaq & S&P Climb As Dow and Russell End in The Red

By John F. Heerdink, Jr.

We now have seen more than 4,148,034 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the world with 1,428,161 cases that have recovered and more than 284k worldwide deaths. In the US, we have 1.369M confirmed cases with 213,555 that have recovered with 80,653 deaths. Reopening measures are pushing forward and many citizens are seeing a way that their respective economies in the US and around the world are coming back online to some degree via various dictated stages. Approvals and research towards vaccines & treatment options are on the way has the FDA continues to push the testing & approval process along. However, today we were hit with the sobering fact that South Korea and Germany are seeing cases increase as they recently made moves toward reopening their economies. I estimate that this spike should come at no real surprise as the world still has not found a vaccine so moving more people out and about again should lead to more being infected as it will do hear in the US as well.

The good news though is more and more funding to speed research is being poured into discovering a vaccine. We have mentioned Johnson and Johnson (JNJ), Moderna (MRNA) ($66.9, +12.91%) and Vancouver’s Abcelllera with its work with Eli Lilly (LLY)/DARPA and the associated $175.6M funding that it received from the Government of Canada to Discover Solutions for COVID-19 and Build a Manufacturing facility for Antibody Drugs but today we were hit with another funding story as Novavax, Inc. (NVAX), a late-stage biotechnology company developing next-generation vaccines for serious infectious diseases, announced that the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) will invest up to $384 million of additional funding, on top of $4 million it invested in March, to advance the clinical development of NVX-CoV2373, Novavax’ coronavirus vaccine candidate against SARS-CoV-2. The additional funding from CEPI will also support the rapid scale-up of the NVX-CoV2373 vaccine antigen, as well as Novavax’ proprietary Matrix-M™ adjuvant, which is expected to enhance immune responses by stimulating high levels of neutralizing antibodies. In addition, the CEPI funding will allow Novavax to dramatically increase its large-scale manufacturing capacity for both antigen and adjuvant in multiple locations. Shares of NVAX have shot up during the COVID-19 crisis from its 52-wk low of $3.54/share to a $24.50/share today up +30.81% and is again trading up in the aftermarket near $35/share. On the testing side of the COVID-19 story we saw Quidel (QDEL) ($208.95/share, +31.8%) received FDA approval for an antigen test for COVID-19. Hope and help do seem to be truly on the way from many parts of the world and it is being funded and chased. Stay positive my friends but keep your distance and science will prevail. 

All markets started off in negative territory today but rose throughout most of the day until dipping a bit towards the end of trading. The Nasdaq carried on with its momentum moving up +.78% today. The popular FAANG stocks helped drive it as Facebook (FB) closed at $213.18/share, up by +.39%, Amazon (AMZN) closed at $2,409/share, up by +1.24%,  Apple (AAPL) closed at $315.01/share up by +1.57%, & Netflix (NFLX) added +1.14% closing $440.52/share, but Alphabet (GOOG) closed at $1,403.26/share up +1.07%. Also, on the tech side of the Nasdaq chip maker NVIDIA (NVDA) closed at $322.62/share up another +3.2% achieving a new all-time high.

The S&P 500 also closed up +.02%, but the Dow lost -.45% & the Russell 2000 dropped -.63%.  

Oil prices pulled back to close at $24.46/bbl off -1.31%. Chevron (CVX) closed at $93.37/share down -2.2%, Exxon (XOM) closed at $45.74/share down by -.95% & Occidental Petroleum Corporation (OXY) closed at $15.03/share up +.07%.

The 2-yr US treasury yield moved up 4 basis points to end at .18% & the 10-yr yield moved up by 4 basis points to end at .72%. The U.S. Dollar Index strengthened by +5% to end at 100.19. 

Gold prices ended lower today at $1,704/oz (-5) while silver prices closed at $15.68/oz (-.04). North American silver and gold producer Hecla Mining Company (HL) ended the day at $2.55/share off -4.14%.

MOVERS

The following stocks moved significantly today:

  • Shares of Neubase Therapeutics (NBSE) rose to a new all-time high in intraday trading of $9.63/share prior to closing at $9.33/share up +6.75%. The company recently closed on $33.3M in funding to move its work on next-generation therapies to treat rare genetic diseases.
  • Shares of Remark Holdings (MARK) closed at $1.79/share up +72.12% after reaching a high of $1.95/share. Remark describes itself as a diversified global technology company with leading artificial intelligence (“AI”) solutions and digital media properties. Today they announced that it began shipping and deploying products from its family of AI thermal solutions, including Thermal Kits, Thermal Pads, and Thermal Helmets, in the United States and Japan. “Our solutions provide touch-free access control and monitoring, as well as accurate temperature measurement and the ability to scan as many as 120 people per minute, a rate that is approximately 10 times faster than manual checks. Our solutions also filter out non-human heat sources and provide security personnel with real-time alerts with photo identification,” stated Kai-Shing Tao, CEO of Remark Holdings.

TOMORROW

Tomorrow’s significant economic data report schedule will include the following:

  • The Consumer Price Index for April
  • The NFIB Small Business Optimism Index for April
  • The Treasury Budget for April

Economic Reports

  • On Monday, we did not receive any significant economic data.

Investing & Inspiration

 

 

I believe the returns on investment in the poor are just as exciting as successes achieved in the business arena, and they are even more meaningful!” -Bill Gates

“Every portfolio benefits from bonds; they provide a cushion when the stock market hits a rough patch. But avoiding stocks completely could mean your investment won’t grow any faster than the rate of inflation.” – Suze Orman

“The tax on capital gains directly affects investment decisions, the mobility, and flow of risk capital… the ease or difficulty experienced by new ventures in obtaining capital, and thereby the strength and potential for growth in the economy.” – John F. Kennedy

“If all the economists were laid end to end, they’d never reach a conclusion.
-George Bernard Shaw

“The riskiest thing we can do is just maintain the status quo.
I get up at 4:30 in the morning, seven days a week, no matter where I am in the world. I think it is important for people who are given leadership roles to assume that role immediately. What I’ve really learned over time is that optimism is a very, very important part of leadership.” Bob Iger, Ceo of Disney

“There are old traders and there are bold traders, but there are very few old, bold traders.”-Ed Seykota

“Let this scenario play out on its own, in its own fashion. As you watch it unfold, you will soon be grateful that you choose the peaceful path. Remember — those who live by the sword, die by the sword.”

“As long as you enjoy investing, you’ll be willing to do the homework and stay in the game.” -Jim Cramer

“I rarely think the market is right. I believe non-dividend stocks aren’t much more than baseball cards. They are worth what you can convince someone to pay for it.” -Mark Cuban

Michael Marcus taught me one other thing that is absolutely critical: You have to be willing to make mistakes regularly; there is nothing wrong with it. Michael taught me about making your best judgment, being wrong, making your next best judgment, being wrong, making your third best judgment, and then doubling your money.” -Bruce Kovner

“The policy of being too cautious is the greatest risk of all.” -Jawaharlal Nehru

“The only true test of whether a stock is “cheap” or “high” is not its current price in relation to some former price, no matter how accustomed we may have become to that former price, but whether the company’s fundamentals are significantly more or less favorable than the current financial-community appraisal of that stock.” -Philip Fisher

“I learned to avoid trying to catch up or double up to recoup losses. I also learned that a certain amount of loss will affect your judgment, so you have to put some time between that loss and the next trade.” -Richard Dennis

“The four most dangerous words in investing are: ‘this time it’s different.” -Sir John Templeton

“Money doesn’t make you happy. I now have $50 million but I was just as happy when I had $48 million.” -Arnold Schwarzenegger

Tomorrow

Tomorrow’s significant economic data report schedule will include the following:

  • The Employment Situation Report for April
  • The Wholesale Inventories for March

Videos

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