Wall Street ended Monday's choppy session mostly in negative territory as some investors begin to fear the possibility of a second wave of COVID-19 in the United States and economic recovery not being as speedy as many had hoped. Tech stocks carried the boarder market and propelled the Nasdaq into its sixth straight session of gains. Yet, the Dow fell and the S&P 500 just barley ended trading in positive territory.
According to a Bank of America (NYSE: BAC) analysis, about 150 companies in the S&P 500 have suspended forward guidance as the pandemic has affected their outlook greatly. The analysis noted that half of the companies are classified as Consumer Discretionary or Industrials.
Here's how the market settled on Monday:
S&P 500 Index (NYSE: SPY): +0.01% or +0.39 points to 2,930.19
Dow Jones Industrial Average (NYSE: DIA): -0.45% or -109.33 points to 24,221.99
Nasdaq Composite Index (NASDAQ: QQQ): +0.78% or +71.02 points to 9,192.34
In Major Stock News, big tech led the market on Monday with Facebook (NASDAQ: FB), Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN), Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL), Netflix (NASDAQ: NFLX), Google (NASDAQ: GOOGL) and Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) all gaining despite brewing economic uncertainty. Other stocks felt investor's cautious trading on Monday, with major travel stocks--American (NASDAQ: AAL), Carnival Corp. (NYSE: CCL), Delta (NYSE: DAL), Norwegian Cruise Line (NYSE: NCLH), Royal Caribbean (NYSE: RCL), Southwest (NYSE: LUV), United (NASDAQ: UAL)-- all falling again. Under Armour (NYSE: UAA) shares dropped after the retailed reported a first quarter sales decline of 23% due to the pandemic. AMC Entertainment (NYSE: AMC) shares were taken for a ride as a report claimed the theater chain was in talks of a buyout from Amazon. Both companies later denied the report.
In Stock Sector News, most sectors ended Monday's session in negative territory. The few that posted positive performance gains were Health Care +1.70%, Information Technology +0.70%, Communication Services +0.14% and Consumer Discretionary +0.10%. The rest that declined on Monday include Financials -1.94%, Energy -1.69%, Materials -1.52%, Industrials -1.25%, Real Estate -1.21%, Utilities -0.48% and Consumer Staples -0.19%.
In Commodity and Currency News, crude oil prices settled lower on Monday as West Texas Intermediate (NYSE: USO) slipping 2.4% to $24.14 per barrel and Brent Crude (NYSE: BNO) falling 3% to $29.60. Gold (NYSE: GLD) fell on Monday as the U.S Dollar (NYSE: UUP) strengthened, lowering to metal's ounce price below $1,700 again.
For Tuesday, market participants will continue to focus more on coronavirus news over economic headlines.