Markets Live Recap: Stocks Jump After Successful Treatment Trials

Investors got another vote of confidence today and bid stocks higher after Dr. Anthony Fauci expressed optimism about a potential coronavirus treatment from Gilead Sciences Inc. (NASDAQ: GILD).

Gilead's remdesivir drug preliminary results showed at least 50% of patients treated with a five-day dosage improved.

The S&P 500 jumped 2.6%, putting the index on track for its best month since 1974.

At the same time, the curve does not appear to be flattening in the United States yet. As of yesterday, over 1 million Americans have officially been diagnosed with the coronavirus.

And 32 million Americans are still officially unemployed. That's approximately 19.5% of the 164.5 million total work force.

The stock market is clearly not representing the economy right now. Instead, it's being propped up by the government

Here's what our experts - Chris Johnson, Tom Gentile, and Shah Gilani - thought about today's positive move and where they see stocks moving forward.

Chris Johnson (8:45 a.m. EDT)

• The No. 1 technical indicator Chris is closely watching today is the 50-day moving average.
  • 131 companies are currently trading above their 50-day moving averages, but they need to stay there for two days before a bullish rally can be confirmed. Tomorrow will be a big test for these stocks.
• Here are three breakout income stocks Chris thinks are safe to buy today:
  • Pfizer Inc. (NYSE: PFE) - one of the leaders in the pharmaceutical sector, paying a 4% dividend.
  • Olin Corp. (NYSE: OLN) - just recently broke above its 50-day moving average and pays a 5% dividend.
  • Target Corp. (NYSE: TGT) - also just broke through its 50-day moving average and pays a 4.2% dividend. Chris has a $125 price target on the stock, which would be an 11.6% increase from today's close.

Tom Gentile (11 a.m. EDT)

• Tom's short-term bullish target for the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (NYSEARCA: SPY) is 294.
  • Tom made that prediction in the early morning, and then the ETF hit that target in early afternoon trading.
  • Since that happened, Tom is predicting explosive volatility to the downside is coming.
• Tom thinks investors should be focusing on these two stocks:
  • Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOGL) - After reporting earnings yesterday, the stock was up 9% at the time of Tom's recording. He thinks it will continue its momentum and run higher, but he wants to see what it does tomorrow first.
  • Facebook Inc. (NASDAQ: FB) - Tom expected earnings to come in below expectations, but said shares would still rally because that's what Google did yesterday and today. And that's exactly what happened.

Shah Gilani (3:45 p.m. EDT)

• Shah covered Facebook's earnings report.
  • The stock missed expectations but still shot up 8.5% higher in after-hours trading (just like Tom Gentile called earlier in the day).
• Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ: MSFT) reported a 15% increase in sales. The stock was up 4.5% during the trading day and up another 1% after hours.
  • Shah thinks momentum should continue to carry MSFT higher.
• Shah thinks there's plenty of momentum for the overall market to go higher too, in the short term.
  • But he thinks investors should be cautious because he expects unemployment claims will be high tomorrow morning. And he still foresees a long and slow reopening of the economy.

Catch us tomorrow - starting LIVE again at 8:45 a.m. EDT with Chris Johnson right here.

If you missed our live streams today, you can now replay them on our YouTube channel here.

Got a question you want our experts to cover? Send us a note.

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