At the close of the session on Monday, the US stock market reported notable gains amid the strengthening of technology, health care, and consumer services sectors. In earlytrading, stock indices were holding firmly lower. At one point, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell by 1.4% but then gained 0.7% by the end of the session. This was the highest fluctuation of the index since late February. At the same time, there were no obvious reasons to drive the quotes higher by the end of the session. The factors that can explain such a reversal can be a fall in US Treasury yields and a decline in the S&P 500 to a key resistance level of 4,200 where it managed to gain a foothold. As a rule, this creates opposite momentum.
Leaders and outsiders
As a result, the Dow Jones rose by 0.70%, the Standard & Poor's 500 was up by 0.57%, and the NASDAQ Composite advanced by 1.29%. By the way, yesterday's rise in the S&P 500 and NASDAQ was the highest in almost a week. The best performers among the DJIA components on Monday were securities of Johnson & Johnson (+2.46%), Microsoft Corporation (+2.44%), and American Express Company (+1.97%). Among those with the biggest losses were Verizon Communications Inc. (-3.14%), Chevron Corp. (-2.15%), and Nike Inc. (-0.88%). The top performers among the S&P500 components were the shares of Moderna Inc. (+7.18%), MatchGroup Inc. (+6.70%), and Fortinet Inc. (+6.31%). Among outsiders of the S&P500 index were Charles River Laboratories (-7.21%), Schlumberger NV (-7.11%), and Halliburton Company (-6.26%). Among the NASDAQ Composite components, Nkarta Inc. (+140.93%), Rubius Therapeutics Inc. (+40.60%), and Erytech Pharma SA ADR (+37.70%) posted the biggest gains. As for the losing shares, Clarus Therapeutics Holdings Inc. (-56.17%), Eliem Therapeutics Inc. (-55.76%), and Toughbuilt Industries Inc. (-44.87%) showed the worst results.
Yesterday, the shares of Twitter soared by 5.7% on the news that the company's board of directors approved Elon Musk's offer to sell the company for $44 billion. Share prices of the world's largest manufacturer and supplier of soft drinks Coca-Cola Co rose by 1.1%. The day before, the company reported an increase in net profit and revenue for the first quarter, while the manufacturer's performance exceeded market expectations. The market capitalization of Otis Worldwide Corp. grew by 1.6% on the back of an increase in net profit in January-March 2022. As oil prices declined on Monday, the shares of the energy company Chevron Corp. sank by 2.2% and oil Exxon Mobil - by 3.4%. Video game developer Activision Blizzard lost 0.7% as the company's net income and revenue declined in the first quarter, while adjusted profit and revenue were below expectations. As a result, on the NYSE stock exchange, the number of stocks that lost value (1,720) exceeded the number of those that gained profit (1,514). At the same time, around 119 shares remained unchanged. On the NASDAQ stock exchange, 2,178 companies showed gains, 1,715 posted losses, and 237 closed at opening levels. The CBOE Volatility Index, formed on the basis of options trading on the S&P 500, sank 4.22% to 27.02.
Major events of the week:
This week, the focus of the US stock market participants remains on corporate reports of leading tech companies. Investors are especially looking forward to the latest releases from Apple Inc., Amazon.com Inc., Microsoft Corp., and Alphabet Inc. At the close of trading on Monday, the securities of these companies rose by 0.7%, 1.2%, 2.4%, and 2.9%, respectively. In addition, over the past months, traders have been closely following the decisions of the US Federal Reserve regarding the tightening of its monetary policy. According to most forecasts, the Fed will raise the key interest rate by 50 basis points at the next meeting in May.
