Stocks Soar Over 7% on Hopes that the Spread is Slowing

SPECIAL ALERT: Remember, the latest episode of the Zacks Ultimate Strategy Session will be available for viewing no later than this Wednesday, April 8. Kevin Matras, Kevin Cook, Jeremy Mullin and Sheraz Mian will cover the investment landscape from several angles in this informative event.

Don’t miss your chance to hear:

▪ Sheraz and Kevin Cook Agree to Disagree: Forecasting the Decline and Recovery. What models to use to navigate the next few months as the stock market rushes back and forth forecasting its own predictions
▪ Kevin Matras answers your questions in Zacks Mailbag
▪ Sheraz and Kevin Cook choose one portfolio to give feedback for improvement
▪ And much more

So be sure to mark your calendar then log on to Zacks.com and bookmark this page.


Stocks soared more today than it lost all of last week, as we finally received some good news on the spread of the coronavirus.

Recent weeks had seen big, positive responses to this outbreak from the Fed and Congress. We’ve also received encouragement on potential vaccines and treatments.

The only thing missing was evidence that all the social distancing and economic shutdowns were having a positive impact on the medical side.

Well, as tentative as it may be for now, we did finally get the type of news we’ve been praying for. Data out of Europe and the U.S. over the weekend showed a decline in new cases.

Our markets probably reacted most strongly to the data out of New York City, which also showed a slowing of new cases, hospital rates and deaths.

So the hope is that the coronavirus is finally beginning to stabilize. Again, no one should believe that we’re out of the woods, but it was enough to send the market on an epic rally to start this week.

The Dow soared 7.73% (or 1627.46 points) on Monday to 22,679.99. The NASDAQ jumped 7.33% (or around 540 points) to 7913.24 and the S&P rose 7.03% to 2663.68.

The indices saw a solid end to the session and actually offset last week’s losses several times over. The Dow ended Friday lower by 2.7% for the five days, while the S&P was off 2.1% and the NASDAQ dipped 1.7%.

However, crude oil slipped 7% on Monday, following an epic rebound last week from an even more impressive plunge previously. The meeting expected for today between Russia and Saudi Arabia didn’t happen, but the two countries are said to be close to a deal. They’ll try again to meet later this week.

It shouldn’t be lost on any of us, though, that President Trump stated just a couple days ago that the U.S. faces its “toughest week” when it comes to deaths from the coronavirus.

So let’s stay calm and cautious, but hopefully we’ll be seeing the light at the end of the tunnel soon. In the meantime, the market really appreciates any evidence that all this economic pain will be worthwhile down the road in the form of saved lives and an epic rebound.

As for tomorrow: will we see another day of green? Other than that unbelievable three-day, 20%+ surge from late last month; the market has had trouble adding onto positive sessions and putting together a winning streak. It sure would be a nice way to start this week!

Today's Portfolio Highlights:

Technology Innovators: Get ready for a lot of activity in this portfolio, as Brian expects to see better days in the market for at least the next week or so. The editor will be looking for tech names that haven’t really recovered yet… but will. And so on Monday he added Agilysys (AGYS), a software name that serves the hospitality industry. Yeah, in other words, the hotel industry! As bad as this space has been since the coronavirus outbreak, it will not cease to exist. And AGYS was doing just fine before all this trouble came to town. Brian thinks this stock will be over $20 in short order; it soared nearly 16% today to $16.35. Meanwhile, he appreciates its rising earnings estimates, which has made AGYS a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). Rising margins also suggests that’s its on the road to profitability. Read the full write-up for a lot more on this new addition.

TAZR Trader: The April relief rally is still alive! As stated last week, Kevin planned to be a buyer if the SPX ramped above 2550. Well it did... and he is! On Monday, the editor jumped back into ProShares UltraPro QQQ (TQQQ) and ProShares UltraPro S&P500 (UPRO). Learn more in the full write-up.

Black Box Trader: The portfolio cashed in three winners among four sells in this week's adjustment. The stocks that were sold today included:

• Coherus BioSciences (CHRS, +12.9%)
• Hain Celestial (HAIN, +6.6%)
• Allergan plc (NYSE:AGN,+1.2%)
• Atlas Air Worldwide (AAWW)

The new buys that replaced these names were:

• Booz Allen Hamilton (BAH)
• Bristol-Myers Squibb (NYSE:BMY)
• Dollar General (NYSE:DG)
• Nasdaq (NDAQ)

Read the Black Box Trader’s Guide to learn more about this computer-driven service designed to take the emotion out of investing.

Large-Cap Trader: "I don’t think there is much macro data risk in the Global Week Ahead -- other than that contained in Thursday’s U.S. weekly unemployment claims.

"The speed of arrival on this global economic plunge is unprecedented. So, economists must default to weekly data, as superior to monthly data.

"I wish that was positive news. It is not. Yet. But we can hope and pray for an equally rapid global macro ascent.

"Hang in there. We will be making history. Work together. This unprecedented global work stoppage is about blocking the spread of a nasty novel virus. It will work." -- John Blank, who had the best-performing stock of the day with US Foods Holding (USFD) soaring 21.8%.

Have a Great Evening,
Jim Giaquinto

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