Day Traders Diary

7/27/20

The major averages rose to start the week with the major tech names outperforming as investors braced for a big week of corporate earnings and lawmakers continued coronavirus stimulus negotiations.The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 114 points, or 0.4%, to close at 26,584. The S&P 500 closed 0.7% higher at 3,239 while the Nasdaq Composite outperformed, climbing 1.7% to 10,536.

Apple climbed 2.3%. Amazon advanced 1.5% after several analysts raised their price targets on the e-commerce giant. Other tech-related stocks, including Facebook, Netflix and Alphabet, also traded higher.

Market sentiment was also boosted after the U.S. government allocated an additional $472 million towards Moderna's coronavirus vaccine research. The stock jumped 9.2%.

The move higher in stocks came as gold prices soared to a new record high. Gold futures hit an intraday high of $1,941.90 per ounce and settled 1.8% higher at $1,931.50. Monday's gain put the precious metal up more than 26% year to date, on pace for its biggest one-year gain since 2010.

This week will be one of the busiest of the corporate earnings season. McDonald's, Pfizer, Alphabet, Apple and AMD are among the companies slated to release their latest quarterly figures this week.

Through Monday morning, 130 S&P 500 companies had reported earnings, with 80% beating analyst expectations, according to Refinitiv. However, overall S&P 500 earnings have fallen 40% from the year-earlier period as the coronavirus pandemic takes a big bite out of corporate profits.

U.S. Treasuries finished little changed while investors continued to await the details of $1 trillion coronavirus relief bill from Republican Senators. The 2-yr yield was flat at 0.15%, and the 10-yr yield increased one basis point to 0.60%. WTI crude futures increased 0.9%, or $0.38, to $41.68/bbl.