A nice late-session advance helped the major indices end sharply higher on Friday, but it wasn’t enough to keep the market’s weekly winning streak alive.
The big news this week was oil, as its May contract plunged into negative territory on Monday. As a result, stocks dropped approximately 5% in the first two sessions.
Prices stabilized and rose throughout the following three days, but it wasn’t enough to overcome the early damage.
The Dow finished the week lower by 1.9%, while the S&P slipped 1.3%. The NASDAQ was off by only 0.2%. This snaps a two week winning run, but the indices are still on target for a solid month of April.
For Friday though, the indices bounced around for a while until that last hour rally lifted all of them to gains of more than 1%.
Tech continues to lead the way higher, helping the NASDAQ jump 1.65% (or nearly 140 points) to 8634.52. The S&P was up 1.39% to 2836.74.
The Dow saw its third straight day in the green with a rise of 1.11% (or 260 points) to 23,775.27.
The week ended with President Trump signing the nearly $500 billion coronavirus relief package, which will help small businesses and hospitals.
The dominance of tech will really be put to the test next week, as earnings season turns its attention on some of the biggest names in the space.
We’ll be getting reports from Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) (GOOG) on Tuesday, Facebook (NASDAQ:FB) and Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) on Wednesday, and Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) and Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) on Thursday.
Next week also includes reports from the likes of Caterpillar (NYSE:CAT), 3M (NYSE:MMM), Boeing (NYSE:BA), Chevron (NYSE:CVX) and Exxon Mobil (NYSE:XOM), among dozens of others.
So let’s rest up this weekend after all the ground that’s been recovered of late, and see if we can end this month (and begin the next one) with even more green.
Today's Portfolio Highlights:
Blockchain Innovators: The air freight & cargo transportation industry is “full of potential for blockchain utilization”, including $40 billion in increased revenue and $3.5 billion in cost cutting, according to Price Waterhouse Coopers. Therefore, Dave gained exposure on Friday by adding Air Transport Services (ATSG), a leading provider of air cargo transportation and related services. This Zacks Rank #2 (Buy) has a Zacks VGM score of ‘A” and a history of upside surprises. The editor plans to hold this position for at least a couple of quarters. Read the complete write-up for more on ATSG.
Home Run Investor: The portfolio is finally ‘full’ at 15 names with today’s addition of Hain Celestial Group (HAIN), the natural and organic foods company. Rising earnings estimates for this quarter, next quarter, this year and next year have made this stock a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). It has also beaten the Zacks Consensus Estimate in three of the past four quarters. Read the full write-up for a lot more on HAIN. By the way, a maximum-sized portfolio doesn’t mean that Brian will be sitting on his hands. He’ll just have to delete positions to make room for new additions. Therefore, get ready for more action next week.
Surprise Trader: With millions of people’s lives being upended by this economic shutdown, many will turn to the consumer lending industry to get some help. That’s the idea behind Dave’s addition of Curo Group (CURO) on Friday. This Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) offers unsecured and secured installment, open-end and single-pay loan services. The company has an Earnings ESP of 1.47% for the quarter being reported after the bell on Thursday, April 30. The editor picked up CURO with a 12.5% allocation. He also sold the underperforming Netgear (NTGR). The complete commentary has more on all of today’s moves.
Counterstrike: "Every day we get closer to the end of lockdowns in the US. Plans are being made, its just a matter of when. The market is being very optimistic at the moment, but no sense to get in the way of hope. When earnings come next week, we will either see more hope or a reality check. At this moment its hard to speculate might happen. However, I of course will.
"I remain neutral with a slight bullish near-term outlook. I think we move higher next week and see 2900, perhaps 2930. From there, we will need some big positive news to move higher.
"I am looking to add new positions next week on both the long and short side. As earnings come in the portfolio will start to fill up again, so lets get ready for some action." -- Jeremy Mullin
Have a Great Weekend!
Jim Giaquinto
Recommendations from Zacks' Private Portfolios:
Believe it or not, this article is not available on the Zacks.com website. The commentary is a partial overview of the daily activity from Zacks' private recommendation services. If you would like to follow our Buy and Sell signals in real time, we've made a special arrangement for readers of this website. Starting today you can see all the recommendations from all of Zacks' portfolios absolutely free for 7 days. Our services cover everything from value stocks and momentum trades to insider buying and positive earnings surprises (which we've predicted with an astonishing 80%+ accuracy). Click here to "test drive" Zacks Ultimate for FREE >>
Zacks Investment Research