4:05pm: US equities close sharply higher
US stocks ended Monday’s trading session sharply higher, with the S&P 500 and Nasdaq hitting record highs, as the US Food and Drug Administration fully approved Pfizer (NYSE:PFE)'s COVID-19 vaccine.
At the close, the DJIA jumped 216 points, or 0.6%, to 35,336, and the S&P 500 increased 0.9% to 4,480.
The tech-heavy Nasdaq, meanwhile, climbed 1.6% to 14,943.
12:05pm: US stocks push higher propelled by energy and Pfizer (NYSE:PFE) approval
The Dow Jones Industrial Average shook off last week’s declines and was trending higher by midday Monday, adding 265 points from the morning bell to sit at 35,386. The S&P 500 was up 44 points or 0.99% over the noon hour to 4,485, as investors began to return to the energy sector.
Energy shares edged almost 4% higher as West Texas Crude and Brent Crude started the five-day period in the green with each adding 5%.
Markets are now awaiting announcements from the Jackson Hole virtual symposium later this week, an annual event that is a good barometer on the sentiment of global banks.
“If there is any nervousness about this week’s Jackson Hole symposium it certainly isn’t showing up today,” Chris Beauchamp, Chief Market Analyst at IG wrote in a Monday market note.
“Given how much this tapering has been discussed and debated in markets over the past few months, it seems any risk of a repeat of 2013’s Taper Tantrum is small.”
Elsewhere, Pfizer (NYSE:PFE) stock was up 3.9% during morning trading following news that the US Food and Drug Administration gave its coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccine full approval.
10.05am: Proactive North America headlines:
Canada Silver Cobalt Works hits high-grade intercepts at the Big Silver zone on its Castle East property
Western Magnesium begins testing on new continuous pilot reactor ahead of schedule
Atlas Engineered Products sees record 2Q revenue and profits on organic growth and efficiency initiatives
Todos Medical poised to launch its cPass blood test in September this year to aid booster jab coronavirus battle
Ketamine One (NEO:MEDI.AQN) establishes Medical Advisory Board
Bragg’s ORYX Gaming strengthens its presence in Greece after taking content live with Novibet
Orgenesis (NASDAQ:ORGS) strikes collaboration agreement with Savicell Diagnostics to advance its cell and gene therapy platform
GlobeX Data (CSE:SWIS, OTCQB:SWISF) closes its C$5.7M oversubscribed financing; increases media exposure on Newsmax
Versus partners with nine NFL teams to offer incentivized fan experiences
Nomad Royalty (TSX:NSR) Company announces major milestone as company is set to list on New York Stock Exchange
O3 Mining promotes two of its executives to boost senior management; inks market-making services deal
9.52am: Wall Street starts strongly
US benchmarks started higher on Monday as markets turn to the Jackson Hole monetary policy symposium, now to be held virtually.
The event sees international central bankers convene and attention will certainly centre on when the US Federal Reserve may actually start scaling back the US$120 billion a month bond-buying program. Other lightweight (!) issues in focus will be the pandemic and the state of the global economy.
Jerome Powell, the Fed chairman, will address the symposium on Friday.
Shortly after the New York bell, the Dow Jones Industrial Average added around 233 points to 35,354. The S&P 500 gained around 28 points at 4,470. The tech heavy Nasdaq added over 117 points at 14,832.
"All in all, while recent news shows growth now slowing in the US, UK and at a global level, it still looks likely to remain well above trend over the remainder of the year. As for policy, the recent moves by the Fed and the Bank of England highlight that tightening is drawing closer but that the stimulus will be withdrawn only very slowly," said Rupert Thompson, chief investment officer at Kingswood, the London-listed wealth management group in a note.
"We believe this backdrop still leaves equity markets with some further moderate upside, even if the best of the gains are now well behind us."
On the company front, vaccine makers were early risers as the FDA fully approved the Pfizer (NYSE:PFE)-BioNTech vaccine. Pfizer (NYSE:PFE) shares were boosted 2.64%, while BioNTech ADRs rose over 9% on Nasdaq.
6.50am: US stocks set to start positively
US stocks look set to start the new week positively, extending Friday's rally as investors await data on the US manufacturing and services sectors.
Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average were around 0.2% higher, while those for the S&P 500 index also added 0.2%, and tech-laden Nasdaq-100 futures gained 0.3%.
Preliminary purchasing managers’ surveys on US manufacturing and services for August are due at 9.45am ET. Similar data for the eurozone released earlier Monday came in below economists’ expectations.
US existing home sales data is also scheduled for release at 10am ET today, with economists forecasting a moderate pullback for July after prices hit a record in June.
Investors are largely focused on the Federal Reserve’s annual economic policy symposium at Jackson Hole which starts later this week, awaiting fresh cues on when the Fed may start to taper bond purchases amid concerns that rising coronavirus (COVID-19) infection levels may slow the global economic recovery.
Dallas Fed President Rob Kaplan said on Friday that he may rethink his call to begin tapering asset purchases soon if the Delta coronavirus variant weighs on growth.
Oil prices rebounded on Monday, with Brent crude rising 2% after the benchmark commodity closed out its worst week since October.
Meanwhile, the price of bitcoin rose above $50,000 for the first time since May after PayPal (NASDAQ:PYPL) expanded its cryptocurrency services to the UK, allowing its customers in Britain to buy, hold and sell digital assets such as bitcoin on its platform.
Five things to watch on Monday:
Storm Henri, after making devastating landfall in Rhode Island Sunday, weakened as it moved slowly along the Eastern US seaboard bringing heavy rain but also relief that the storm did not hit as hard as feared having been downgraded twice from hurricane class.
Pfizer (NYSE:PFE) Inc has said it will buy the shares of Trillium Therapeutics (TSX:TR) Inc that it does not already own in a deal that values the cancer drugs maker at $2.26 billion.
Boeing Co. has committed to invest in Richard Branson’s Virgin Orbit as part of the satellite-launching startup’s planned $3.2 billion SPAC listing later this year, according to a person familiar with the matter, the Wall Street Journal exclusively reported.
The UK competition regulator said it has started its investigation into whether business information provider S&P Global's $44 billion purchase of London-based peer IHS Markit Ltd would hurt competition.
BYD Company Limited, a Chinese electric car maker backed by US investor Warren Buffett, has suspended plans to list its computer chip division following a regulatory probe into the law firm advising the company