The Dow Jones projected a 548-point gain Monday as markets cheered positive vaccine data from a drug company called Moderna Inc. (NASDAQ: MRNA).
Plus, U.S. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell presented an optimistic outlook for the U.S. economy on "60 Minutes" last night. Here's everything moving the Dow today.
We'll start with the numbers from Friday for the Dow, S&P 500, and Nasdaq:
Index
Previous Close
Point Change
Percentage Change
Dow Jones
23,685.42
+60.08
+0.25
S&P 500
2,863.70
+11.20
+0.39
Nasdaq
9,014.56
+70.84
+0.79
Now, here are what I think will be the most important market events and stocks on Monday morning.
The Top Stock Market Stories for Monday
Shares of Moderna Inc. (NASDAQ: MRNA) popped more than 26% after the biotech firm reported positive data from a phase 1 study of a coronavirus vaccine. The firm reported increases in immune responses across various dosage levels. After two doses, the company said that all 45 participants in the drug trial developed antibodies. The report suggests that patients tolerated the treatment well. The news comes as Johns Hopkins University reports that the number of coronavirus cases around the world topped 4.7 million. Roughly 315,023 people have died, according to date from Sunday night. Meanwhile, the United States is on the verge of topping 1.5 million cases.
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Last night, Fed Chair Jerome Powell appeared on "60 Minutes" to discuss the state of the U.S. economy. During the conversation, Powell said that he was "highly confident" that the American economy would pull back from the depths. While he said he doesn't expect a full recovery until scientists develop a COVID-19 vaccine, he doesn't expect the downturn to resemble the Great Depression. That said, Powell does anticipate that the U.S. unemployment rate could top out around 25%.
Crude oil prices ripped higher on Monday as optimism surged around the Moderna vaccine. WTI crude added 9.4% this morning. It hit a two-month high as the June contract prepares to expire this week. This is a huge difference from the day before the May contract expired last month. Crude prices plunged below zero and fell sharply into negative territory for the first time ever. Demand has slowly begun to recover since that event. OPEC and its allies have taken about 9.7 million barrels offline per day since May 1. Several members have slashed production voluntarily to help support global crude prices.
Stocks to Watch Today: GS, AAPL, UBER, GRUB
Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (NYSE: GS) shares added 2.5% this morning despite news that Warren Buffett and Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (NYSE: BRK.A) had dumped a huge stake in the Wall Street titan. A 13F shows that Buffett's firm cut its position in GS from about 10 million shares down to about 1.9 million. Berkshire had invested about $5 billion into Goldman with some very favorable terms during the last financial crisis. During Berkshire's annual shareholder meeting, Buffett also announced he had cut his entire stake in airline companies. He said it was very difficult to find value in the current market.
Shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) are in the news. The company announced its guidelines for a return to retail sales. The firm will reopen 25 Apple retail stores this week and said that it will require temperature checks for all people entering the store. The firm said it will provide masks to any customer who doesn't have one.
In deal news, Uber Technologies Inc. (NYSE: UBER) is still trying to acquire Grubhub Inc. (NASDAQ: GRUB). A new report from The Wall Street Journal says that the CEOs of both companies met over the weekend to discuss a potential merger. Uber wants to roll Grubhub's delivery service under the Uber Eats brand. However, Grubhub's CEO has said that terms of a stock-swap deal are currently too low.
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Garrett Baldwin is a globally recognized research economist, financial writer, consultant, and political risk analyst with decades of trading experience and degrees in economics, cybersecurity, and business from Johns Hopkins, Purdue, Indiana University, and Northwestern.