The Dow Jones today is clawing back after taking some losses on COVID-19 numbers. The index is near its record high close on Feb. 12. Shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) and Walmart Inc. (NYSE: WMT) are leading the rally. Stay tuned to see if it breaks the threshold.
You can find out what else is moving the Dow today, below.
We'll start with the numbers from Tuesday for the Dow, S&P 500, and Nasdaq:
Index
Previous Close
Point Change
Percentage Change
Dow Jones
28,645.66
+215.61
+0.76
S&P 500
3,526.65
+26.34
+0.75
Nasdaq
11,939.67
+164.21
+1.39
Now here's a closer look at today's most important market events and stocks. We'll also discuss the stories that slipped under the radar of the mainstream financial press on Wednesday.
The Top Stock Market Stories for Wednesday
Today, ADP will release its latest data on job trends in the United States. Economists anticipated that the U.S. economy added 1.17 million jobs in August. The report comes two days ahead of the official jobs report from the U.S. Labor Department. Meanwhile, the Labor Department issued a rather chilling report on the expected state of the U.S. jobs market over the next decade. The agency projects that the nation will add just 6 million new net jobs between 2020 and 2029. That represents an annual growth rate in job creation of just 0.4%. The agency projects a bigger boost in healthcare jobs at the expense of manufacturing positions. However, it's worth noting that this projection did not include the impact of COVID-19. Also, 16.3 million Americans remained out of work in July.
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Johns Hopkins University reports that U.S. COVID-19 cases jumped by an alarming amount on Tuesday compared to the previous day. On Monday, cases fell to their lowest number in months - 34,000 total across the United States. However, on Tuesday, cases totaled 43,000. Infections have continued to spread across the Midwest, and 26 states are seeing a rise in cases (despite a downturn in more populated states like California, Florida, and Texas.) U.S. health officials are warning that containment to prevent another big spike in COVID-19 cases begins with responsible behavior by Americans over the upcoming Labor Day holiday weekend.
Stocks to Watch Today: ZM, M, WMT, AMZN
Shares of DraftKings Inc. (NASDAQ: DKNG) rallied more than 14% on Tuesday morning after former NBA great Michael Jordan joined the company as an advisor to its board of directors. Jordan will hold an equity interest in the organization as part of the deal. This is a developing story, and one that will likely fuel the stock much higher on Tuesday once regular trading kicks off after the bell.
Shares of Macy's Inc. (NYSE: M) jumped another 5.2% after the embattled department store reported a huge jump in online sales during the August-ending quarter. The firm reported a 53% jump in digital sales, a figure that helped it lock in a smaller-than-expected loss for the quarter. The firm reported earnings per share of $0.81 on top of $3.56 billion in revenue. Same-store sales, however, fell by 35.1% year over year as many malls remained closed during the summer due to COVID-19 restrictions.
Finally, shares of Walmart Inc. (NYSE: WMT) rallied another 1.4% yesterday after gaining 6.3% on Monday. The retailer received a huge boost after the company announced a new subscription service called Walmart-plus. The company plans to launch the program in two weeks as analysts prepare to see how many Americans sign up for the service. The service will cost $98 per year, or $12.95 per month. It will provide users with unlimited access to delivery of more than 160,000 items, including groceries. There are many differences between Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN) and the new Walmart subscription. Still, Wall Street analysts can't help but make the comparison.
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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.