“U.S. stocks posted gains on Monday as signs of U.S. economic recovery helped offset jitters over increasingly violent social unrest amid an ongoing [COVID-19] pandemic and rising U.S.-China tensions,” Stephen Culp reports for Reuters:
The White House called for “law and order” as U.S. cities were looted and smoldering after six nights of widespread, violent demonstrations triggered by the death of George Floyd at the hands of police, even as the country reels from the economic effects of pandemic-related lockdowns.
“Most investors are saying (the protests) aren’t going to destroy the economy,” [said Paul Nolte, portfolio manager at Kingsview Asset Management in Chicago.] “It’s a roadblock but it’s not as big as a pandemic.”
Further weighing on sentiment, China has ordered state-owned firms to halt purchases of U.S. soybeans and pork, in retaliation for President Donald Trump’s announcement that he would end special treatment for Hong Kong following China’s move to tighten security measures in the territory.
But economic data gave a boost to investor sentiment, with the Institute for Supply Management’s (ISM) purchasing managers’ index (PMI) showing the contraction of factory activity was slowing, and a decline in construction spending was not as steep as economists feared.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.37% to end at 25,476.05 points, while the S&P 500 gained 0.38%, to 3,055.75. The Nasdaq Composite .IXIC climbed 0.65% to 9,551.67.
MacDailyNews Take: Apple, which closed today at $321.85, is in shouting distance of its all-time high of $327.85 set on January 29, 2020. After all that’s been thrown at it so far in 2020* that’s some serious resilience! The more recovery signs, the better.
*that’s more than enough, thanks (for nothing)!
This is further proof that the markets are completely unhinged from reality. We are still in the middle of a pandemic, the economy is still blasted to pieces, there have been seven straight days of riots in dozens of cities large and small, it’s 50 degrees warmer above the Arctic Circle, and 17-year locusts are about to hatch. And the market went up today.
Can ANYONE explain this to me?
Yep. You follow the hysterical doom and gloom media too much. The situation isn’t as dire as you noted. People are still working, economy is rolling along nicely. There are winners and losers in all this. Glad I’m on the winning side. Losers are the hospitality industry. And so called protestors. BLM should be abolished.
Yep, unhinged….
“Manufacturing was slightly better than the worst levels of activity in a century.”
–U.S. Macro analyst Christian Drake, 6/1/2020
But hey!