The Dow Jones today is popping after the U.S. Labor Department announced the unemployment rate fell to 11.1%.
Investors continue to bet on a V-shaped recovery and ignore the ongoing surge of national COVID-19 cases. The rally comes on the back of large gains during a holiday-shortened week. More on this below.
Here are the numbers from Friday for the Dow, S&P 500, and Nasdaq:
Index
Previous Close
Point Change
Percentage Change
Dow Jones
25,827.36
+92.39
+0.36
S&P 500
3,130.01
+14.15
+0.45
Nasdaq
10,207.63
0.00
0.00
Now here are what I think will be the most important market events and stocks this Monday morning.
The Top Stock Market Stories for Monday
On the coronavirus front, the United States now comprises 25% of all global COVID-19 cases. On Saturday, both Texas and Florida reported record daily case totals. Doctors anticipate that the July 4th holiday will likely lead to another surge, thanks to the scant amount of social distancing and refusal to wear masks. On Sunday, the United States experienced nearly 50,000 new cases. Dr. Anthony Fauci has raised concerns that the country is on track to seeing daily new case numbers register at 100,000 or more.
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Warren Buffett is putting some of Berkshire Hathaway Inc.'s (NYSE: BRK.A) money to work. In a surprise deal, Buffett's company purchased the natural gas transmission and storage assets of prominent energy giant Dominion Energy Inc. (NYSE: D). The deal is worth about $10 billion, including the assumption of debt. Prior to the deal, Berkshire Hathaway had about $137 billion in cash.
The prospect of reopening the economy helped push stocks tied to travel and hospitality higher. Cruise stocks like Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd. (NYSE: NCLH), Carnival Corp. (NYSE: CCL), and Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. (NYSE: RCL) all gained more than 3%. Airline stocks Delta Air Lines Inc. (NYSE: DAL) and American Airlines Group Inc. (NASDAQ: AAL) both rallied more than 3%.
Stocks to Watch Today: GRUB, UBER, BDX
Shares of Uber Technologies Inc. (NYSE: UBER) are in focus after the prominent ridesharing giant secured a deal to purchase Postmates for $2.65 billion. The deal comes shortly after Uber failed to lock up a merger with rival GrubHub Inc. (NASDAQ: GRUB) last month. European delivery giant Just Eat Takeaway reached a $7.3 billion deal with GrubHub. This morning, Uber shares popped 8% on the news.
Shares of Becton Dickinson and Co. (NYSE: BDX) are on the moves after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration granted emergency authorization for the company to deploy its latest rapid COVID-19 test. This coronavirus test can provide results within 15 minutes and would dramatically increase the ability to test across the world.
Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ: REGN) is generating several headlines this morning. The drug company announced it would launch its phase 3 trial for a drug cocktail to treat COVID-19. This would be just a few weeks after the company started the phase 1 trial. Meanwhile, the company's partner, Sanofi SA (NYSE: SFY), announced that its arthritis treatment, Kevzara, failed to help COVID-19 patients recover during a drug trial. That trial has been stopped by the company.
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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.