Stock Market Today: Markets End Raucous Week on a Restrained Note
An encouraging October jobs report and a clearer presidential picture didn't do much Friday for a market exhausted from running.
Friday not only provided more clarity on the U.S. presidential election, but also good news on America's employment situation.
Neither development was met with another round of buying by investors, but one can forgive the bulls for being exhausted after a brisk week of gains. (The Dow Jones Industrial Average, for instance, slipped 0.2% to 28,323, but finished the week up 6.8%.)
The Labor Department reported that the U.S. added a stronger-than-expected 638,000 jobs in October, bringing the unemployment rate down to 6.9%.
Sign up for Kiplinger’s Free E-Newsletters
Profit and prosper with the best of expert advice on investing, taxes, retirement, personal finance and more - straight to your e-mail.
Profit and prosper with the best of expert advice - straight to your e-mail.
"The economy continues to display very impressive resilience across multiple sectors and facets, such as housing, auto sales, retail sales broadly, manufacturing, and increasingly services," says Rick Rieder, BlackRock's chief investment officer of Global Fixed Income and head of the BlackRock Global Allocation Investment Team. "Government employment provided more than a quarter-of-a-million jobs drag, while private sector employment gained an impressive 900,000 jobs."
And while presidential election results are still pending from six states, the numbers increasingly point to a Biden victory, fueling more rip-roaring gains in many "Biden stocks." That includes marijuana stocks such as Canopy Growth (CGC, +10.9%) and Tilray (TLRY, +23.2%), which continued their recent ascents Friday.
Other action in the stock market today:
- The S&P 500 slipped by just one point to 3,509.
- The Nasdaq Composite eked out a four-point gain to 11,895.
- The small-cap Russell 2000 dropped 0.8% to 1,646.
One Source of Uncertainty Is Fading, But More Remain
Regardless of who ultimately is elected, the economy is hardly out of the woods.
Earlier this week, Sen. Mitch McConnell signaled a sudden willingness to make progress on COVID-related stimulus, which might be needed even more as winter approaches and the pandemic's "second wave" sweeps across much of the country.
Yes, there's plenty of hope that at least one vaccine will be approved in the next few months, which could very well light a spark under these 11 stocks that desperately need some form of normalcy to return. But the vaccine race's timeline is uncertain – both for approval and for rollout to Americans across the country.
For the time being, that means continued opportunity for so-called coronavirus stocks whose businesses benefited from the first wave this spring. Yes, some COVID plays have seemingly maxed out their opportunity. But a number look positioned to take advantage of similar consumer and business behavior this winter, as well as longer-term trends that COVID-19 helped accelerate.
Read on as we take a look at a dozen of the best coronavirus stocks to buy.
Get Kiplinger Today newsletter — free
Profit and prosper with the best of Kiplinger's advice on investing, taxes, retirement, personal finance and much more. Delivered daily. Enter your email in the box and click Sign Me Up.
Kyle Woodley is the Editor-in-Chief of WealthUp, a site dedicated to improving the personal finances and financial literacy of people of all ages. He also writes the weekly The Weekend Tea newsletter, which covers both news and analysis about spending, saving, investing, the economy and more.
Kyle was previously the Senior Investing Editor for Kiplinger.com, and the Managing Editor for InvestorPlace.com before that. His work has appeared in several outlets, including Yahoo! Finance, MSN Money, Barchart, The Globe & Mail and the Nasdaq. He also has appeared as a guest on Fox Business Network and Money Radio, among other shows and podcasts, and he has been quoted in several outlets, including MarketWatch, Vice and Univision. He is a proud graduate of The Ohio State University, where he earned a BA in journalism.
You can check out his thoughts on the markets (and more) at @KyleWoodley.
-
When Does a Nest Egg Become a Ticking Tax Bomb?
Retirement savers with big bucks in traditional IRAs and pretax 401(k)s could face huge tax bills when RMDs kick in. One potential solution? A Roth 401(k).
By Dan Flanagan, CPA/PFS, CFP®, AEP® Published
-
Medicare or Medicare Advantage: Which Is Right for You?
From overall costs to availability of care, here's what to know about the differences between traditional Medicare and Medicare Advantage plans.
By Paola Bianchi Delp Published
-
Stock Market Today: Tech Leads Stocks to Broad-Based Gains
Risk appetite came back with a vengeance as oil and bonds took a breather.
By Dan Burrows Last updated
-
Stock Market Today: Stocks Retreat Ahead of Nvidia Earnings
Markets lost ground on light volume Wednesday as traders keyed on AI bellwether Nvidia earnings after the close.
By Dan Burrows Published
-
Stock Market Today: Stocks Edge Higher With Nvidia Earnings in Focus
Nvidia stock gained ground ahead of tomorrow's after-the-close earnings event, while Super Micro Computer got hit by a short seller report.
By Karee Venema Published
-
Stock Market Today: Dow Hits New Record Closing High
The Nasdaq Composite and S&P 500 finished in the red as semiconductor stocks struggled.
By Karee Venema Published
-
Stock Market Today: Stocks Pop After Powell's Jackson Hole Speech
Fed Chair Powell's Jackson Hole speech struck a dovish tone which sent stocks soaring Friday.
By Karee Venema Published
-
Stock Market Today: Stocks Drop Ahead of Powell's Jackson Hole Speech
Sentiment turned cautious ahead of Fed Chair Powell's highly anticipated speech Friday at the Jackson Hole Economic Symposium.
By Karee Venema Published
-
Stock Market Today: Stocks Rise After Jobs Data Lifts Rate-Cut Odds
Preliminary data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics shows job growth was lower than previously estimated.
By Karee Venema Published
-
Stock Market Today: Stocks Snap Lengthy Win Streak
The recent stock market rally ran out of steam Tuesday as sentiment turns cautious ahead of Jackson Hole.
By Karee Venema Published