Dow surges after Bernie Sanders drops out; Apple among key gainers

Apple rallied 2.1% in today’s stock market, while Microsoft gained 1.2%. FANG stock leader Amazon traded up 0.8%. Tesla turned lower after initial gains on employee pay cuts. The Nasdaq composite hit new session highs in midday trade, gaining 1.8% Wednesday. At around 3pm EDT, the S&P 500 was up 2.1%, while the Dow Jones industrials rose 3.01%.

Scott Lehtonen for Investor’s Business Daily:

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rallied more than [680] points Wednesday midday after Bernie Sanders dropped out of the presidential race. Meanwhile, cumulative U.S. COVID-19 cases topped 400,000. Dow Jones stock leaders Apple and Microsoft advanced, as the new stock market rally continues.

Midday Wednesday, Bernie Sanders announced his decision to withdraw from the presidential election in a conference call with staff.

Within the current stock market rally, the tech-heavy Nasdaq is down about 12% year to date through Tuesday’s close. Meanwhile, the S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average are down 17.7% and 20.6%, respectively, through April 7.

Among the Dow Jones stocks, Apple stock moved up 2.2%, as the stock continues to move up the right side of a new base. No proper buy point is clear yet, but the stock’s RS line is near new highs. The RS line measures a stock’s price performance vs. the general market and can be used to gauge leadership potential.

MacDailyNews Take: With Apple trading up $6.11 (+2.36%) today at $265.54, shares are up $68.08 year over year, as it closed on this day in 2019 at $197.51. Not a bad performance for AAPL investors, especially considering, you know, the 2020 black swan market crash precipitated by massive worldwide economic disruption due to a global pandemic.

[Thanks to MacDailyNews Readers too numerous to mention individually for the heads up.]