Market Update (10/12)

October 12, 2020 at 5:56 pm - by Editor Investors Prism

Stocks opened the week higher with the three major indexes posting intraday gains of more than 1%. Investors are taking an optimistic view ahead of the first round of quarterly corporate earnings results that are expected to have improved compared to earlier this year. Stimulus talks also remained in focus and investors liked the tone of White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow, who offered an upbeat assessment of talks between the White House and House Democrats on Sunday, saying “the bid and offer is narrowing somewhat between the two sides.”

At the close, the $DJI gained 0.88% to 28,837.52. The NASDAQ Composite closed higher to 11,876.26, up 2.56%. The S&P 500 gained 1.64% to 3534.32. The Russell 2000 was also higher by 0.65% to 1648.83. Shares of Amazon (AMZN) surged more than 4% as investors embrace the start of the company’s annual Prime Day event. Apple (AAPL) shares also gained more than 4% ahead of the company’s iPhone 12 launch event on Tuesday. Some analysts think that the product launch can be Apple’s most important product cycle since the iPhone 6 in 2014.

The InvestorsPrism family of indexes closed mixed. The PRISM Emerging Gene Therapy index closed lower by 0.8%. The PRISM Emerging MedCannabis index is higher by 2.6% on the day. The PRISM Emerging MedDevices index was flat on the day.

Other PRISM indexes also closed mixed. The PRISM Emerging MedDiagnostics index lost 0.8%. The PRISM Emerging New Economy index closed lower by 0.5%, and the PRISM Emerging Pet Care & AgriBiz index closed higher by 0.2%. The biotech heavy PRISM Emerging Vaccines & Cell Therapy index also closed lower by 0.8%.

The top commodities are mixed at the 4:00pm ET mark. Crude Oil is trading lower to $39.55. Gold is modestly higher to $1928.40 per oz., and Silver is strong, adding 0.63% to $25.26 oz. Bitcoin ($BTC) is trading 4.48% resistance at $11,551.92 as of 4pm est.

*data as of market close at 4pm est on 10/12/20