The Dow Jones now could pop after Big Tech companies crushed earnings expectations Thursday. The NASDAQ is now on the verge of hitting an all-time high of 11,000.
Read for more on the tech industry and the latest on the spread of COVID-19...
First, here are the numbers from Thursday for the Dow, S&P 500, and Nasdaq:
Index
Previous Close
Point Change
Percentage Change
Dow Jones
26,313.65
-225.92
-0.85
S&P 500
3,246.22
-12.22
-0.38
Nasdaq
10,587.81
+44.87
+0.43
Now here are what I think will be the most important market events and stocks on Friday morning.
The Top Stock Market Stories for Monday
COVID-19 cases across the United States topped 67,000 yesterday as the spread continues to hit every corner of the country. The total number of cases has now surpassed 4.4 million, while the number of deaths across the country now sits at 152,000. The grizzly figure comes a day after the U.S. Commerce Department announced that second quarter GDP slumped by a staggering 32.9% on an annualized basis. That figure was the largest quarterly plunge in the history of the nation's economy thanks to COVID-19.
Unstoppable: Our new Premium Stock Pick kept climbing while the rest of the market tanked. And as a leader in a new billion-dollar market, the gains are just getting started. Don't miss out - get this pick for free here...
Next, the U.S. dollar continues to weaken. The greenback fell after President Trump floated the idea of delaying the U.S. election due to concerns about mail-in voting. This created a stir, as the power to set the date falls only to Congress. Bitcoin surged to more than $11,000, while the price of gold is now on the verge of hitting $2,000 per coin. The month of August has been the biggest month for gold since January 2012.
Finally, Congress is still struggling to reach an agreement on the next stimulus bill to provide support to Americans. The current package that provides weekly federal unemployment benefits of an additional $600 per week will expire today. Republicans want to cut that figure to $200 per week, a proposal that Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer has rejected.
Stocks to Watch Today: AAPL, AMZN, FB, GOOGL
Shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) rallied another 6.4% after the company crushed earnings expectations Thursday. It also announced a 4-for-1 stock split. The company reported a historically strong quarter backed by an 11% jump in revenue and a very strong sales performance from its online channels.
Shares of Amazon.com (NASDAQ: AMZN) rallied another 5% this morning. The company topped second-quarter earnings results after the bell yesterday and announced it will hold its Prime Shopping day during the fourth quarter. The firm reported earnings per share of $10.30, topping expectations of $1.46. The firm also reported revenue of $88.91 billion for the quarter, a figure that easily beat Wall Street expectations.
Shares of Facebook (NASDAQ: FB) added another 6.5% this morning. The company reported an 11% jump in revenue growth during the second quarter. The figure was its lowest since its 2012 IPO. The firm also said that monthly active users surpassed 3.14 billion, well above the 2.99 it counted last quarter. The firm reported earnings per share of $1.80, well above the $1.39 expected by Wall Street. Revenue topped $18.7 billion, surpassing expectations as well.
Shares of Alphabet (NASDAQ: GOOGL) were up again Friday after the firm reported its first quarterly revenue decline in corporate history. The firm topped expectations for quarterly earnings in all areas except for its cloud-computing division. The firm reported earnings per share of $10.13, ahead of estimates of $8.21. Meanwhile, revenue surpassed $38.30 billion. The company saw strong advertising revenue from YouTube.
In the Time It Takes to Watch a Movie...
You could be setting yourself up to add thousands to your portfolio.
You read that correctly... just 90 minutes of your time per week is all it takes to show you exactly how this revolutionary, just-released trading system works and how you can score big with it - regardless of what the markets are doing.
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.