Day Traders Diary

9/14/20

Stocks rose on Monday as a slew of corporate deal making activity and optimism toward a coronavirus vaccine sparked a broad market rally. The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed up 327 points or 1.18%. The S&P 500 climbed 42 points or 1.2% while the Nasdaq Composite jumped 1.8% or 203 points. The tech-heavy benchmark was coming off its worst week since March.

Shares of Apple rose 3%. The market has been following in the footsteps of its rally leader. Apple shares are down 11.9% this month.

Tesla shares rebounded by more than 11%. The once-surging stock is down more than 18% in September after it failed to gain entry into the benchmark S&P 500, something investors were anticipating.

Tech sentiment was lifted by news of Nvidia buying chipmaker Arm Holdings from SoftBank for $40 billion. Nvidia will finance the deal through a combination of cash and common stock. Nvidia was up 5%. Other chipmakers also gained, including AMD, Micron and Skyworks.

Meanwhile, ByteDance rejected Microsoft's bid to buy TikTok's U.S. operations. Instead, ByteDance has chosen Oracle to be TikTok's U.S. technology partner, and Oracle will take a significant stake in the business. Oracle shares were up 5.3%.

Outside of tech, Gilead said it will acquire Immunomedics to expand its cancer treatments for $21 billion. Immunomedics shares doubled. The iShares Nasdaq Biotechnology ETF was up more than 5%.

Sentiment was also boosted by signs of progress toward a coronavirus vaccine. AstraZeneca resumed phase three trials for its coronavirus vaccine in the U.K. following a halt due to safety concerns. However, its trials in the U.S. remains on hold as American regulators investigate the side effects flagged in the U.K. study, Reuters reported Monday.

Meanwhile, Pfizer's CEO Albert Bourla said on Sunday that a coronavirus vaccine could be distributed in the U.S. before the year-end.

The U.S. Treasury market was rather quiet today despite the bullish action in the stock market. The 2-yr yield increased one basis point to 0.14%, and the 10-yr yield was flat at 0.67%. The U.S. Dollar Index declined 0.3% to 93.06. WTI crude futures decreased 0.3%, or $0.12, to $37.22/bbl.