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Nasdaq Hits Record High as Amazon Leads Tech to Glory

Published 07/20/2020, 03:53 PM
Updated 07/20/2020, 04:05 PM
© Reuters.

By Yasin Ebrahim

Investing.com – The Nasdaq closed at record highs on Monday as investors piled into tech stocks ahead of several quarterly earnings for mega-cap tech companies slated for later this week.

The S&P 500 gained 0.85%, while the Nasdaq Composite added 2.5% and the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.03%.

Tech made a bold start to the week, led by Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL), Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT), Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) and Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN), the so-called Fab 5, making up about 40% of the Nasdaq Index as Wall Street served up bullish upgrades on the sector.

Amazon surged 7.9% after Jefferies (NYSE:JEF) upgraded its price target on the stock to $3,800 from $3,100, citing an acceleration in online spending this year. Google, meanwhile, rose 3.3% after Credit Suisse analyst Stephen Ju hiked the price target on Alphabet to $1,850 from $1,600 ahead of its second-quarter results due July 30.

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) was also a big contributor to the heavy-weight index, racking up gains of 9.5%.  

Beyond big tech, the vaccine race continues to heat up, with AstraZeneca (NYSE:AZN) and Oxford University revealing a positive update on a potential Covid-19 candidate.

The phase 1 trial, which included 1,000 patients, showed that doses of the vaccine – called ChAdOx1 nCov-19 - triggered an immune response in patients, boosting their antibodies and white blood cells to fight the virus.

"The immune responses observed following vaccination are in line with what we expect will be associated with protection against the SARS-CoV-2 virus, although we must continue with our rigorous clinical trial program to confirm this," said Andrew Pollard, chief investigator of the Oxford Vaccine Trial. "We saw the strongest immune response in participants who received two doses of the vaccine, indicating that this might be a good strategy for vaccination."

Other companies in the race for the vaccine fell. Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA) was down nearly 13% after JPMorgan (NYSE:JPM) downgraded the company to neutral from overweight, though it raised its price target on the stock to $89 from $60.

As U.S. Covid-19 cases topped 3.5 million, investors reined in their bets on stocks tied to a smooth reopening of businesses amid fears further shut downs loom.

American Airlines (NASDAQ:AAL) fell 3.7%, Marriott International (NASDAQ:MAR) slid 3.3%, Carnival (NYSE:CCL) slipped 3%, and Wynn Resorts (NASDAQ:WYNN) was down 3.4%.

In deal news, Chevron (NYSE:CVX), down 2.2%, tabled an offer to buy Noble Energy (NASDAQ:NBL) for $5 billion.

Latest comments

As Amazon leads tech to 'gory ' (future)
Drain the Swamp. Did you forget?
in the 4th paragraph: information interventions by information intervention agents are the reasons for the price hike. Are they sure its not the currency publishing by f. e. d.?
Someone needs to explain to me why Amazon is worth over 3,000 dollars. Their earnings are roughly $20 per share annually. At 15 times earnings, that makes them a $300 stock. A lot of the tech stocks are running ridiculous PE's. They'll never be worth their price.
True
Easy, earnings can increasy very fast and reach + $200 per share (+10x) in this business
As in most thinga in life we project instead of analyze, we swing and pray instead of aiming and firing. We’re a world built on hopes and dreams and therefore you can have an inflated stock at 3,000$ and have some dip ********know nothing raise price expectations to 3800$
"Glory': sound biblical. Wall St is doing God's work no doubt for the benefit of...well... Wall St :D. Forgot to mention Gold and Silvers break through as well...somethings not quite right is it?
Gold is the best bet for this bubble
Folks, the only way the bubble will burst is if Biden wins the election. All of you know that. Market does not like Biden.
More like Biden will stop the illegal activity going on in the markets. But who wants free markets
do you mean illegal fake currency publishing by fed?
what they forgot to mention is that gold also rose in this so-called risk rally. my gut feel is that this isn't a risk rally at all.  Instead it's a safety-rally, Big-tech and Gold are now considered safe bets vs. the airlines, cruise lines and financials.
Many don't seem to realize that even if there was a CURE not just a vaccine, for COVID, as early as tomorrow, it wouldn't matter. The damage has been done, and the world has yet to feel the consequences. Anyone that keeps investing, unless they are lucky enough to get out soon, will be wishing that had. And guess what....when the CURE is in, there will be no more government stimulus.
only shorters who lose money will not be happy with it. They're the ones complaining always. i also think it is a bubble yes. but if you are a real trader, you will enjoy the ride and EXIT before the bubble even bursts. Shorters keep fighthing the central banks and often lose. never learned their lesson.
How does a real trader know when to exit? Is there a meeting of real traders to discuss when the bubble will burst and when to exit? Or does someone make an announcement to exit. Or do "real" traders just belong to a club that has the magic number. It seems to me only a few people will know when its going to burst, and everyone else will be a bag holder. Similar to a ponzi scheme.
thats y you must have a trading plan before u enter the market. set your target price and cutloss, know your suport and resistance. then you know when to get out
Big money must know something about what earnings will bring...likely easy comps to beat this quarter
Retail traders think the market is going up because of "Big Money" , the market is up because of a record number of inexperienced Robinhood Traders being swindled by the fed.
If it goes up, just go along for the ride. Duh
The full blown market bubble is here to come soon
Oh yeah! The so called Bubble! But... Oh wait! Nothing happens since march!! Stop saying always the same!
They were saying on CNBC that this is nothing like 2000...we're in the midst of a long-term secular shift in tech, e-commerce, biotech, etc
 I agree. Real question is, what's the % of investors who have bought into this story? and has this percentage peaked?
“Fab 5”Lists 4 companies
Agree, DM ! What's the 5th these days....Facebook, Netflix, maybe Tesla which seems to have a rocket under its stock price.....FAANG, FAANGM.....or maybe the article's writer can't count ;)
wallstreet definitely wants trump re-elected, they had every excuse in the book to create a recession but their checkbooks are worth more to them than getting demented biden into office
*prolonged recession. 2020 was the shortest bear market in stock market history.
title correction: The printing press continues to pump the stock market at the expense of taxpayers and the USD.
It's a FOMO market
All of the politicians jumped on this train a long time ago. They are not going to let it slow down. Too much money to lose. Total corruption but that’s just how it is. The new normal. LOL.
Analyst seems trying to distinguish themselves by making absurd PT's
Yea, bubble = glory.
bubble pops and glory fades.
Yeah... but when? Bubble, Bubble... and nothing happens!
5 companies representing 40% of NASDAQ? for how long do you think that's going to be?
No sé, pero mientras tanto sigo bien adentro levantándola con pala.
20 more years tbh
Fake News
In-sha-allah tomorrow it's going down broso it's time to strong sell
No, if it goes down, it's time to buy. Duh
Amazon’s going to the moon tomorrow, get in while you can.
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