S&P 500 futures saw initial pressure Sunday evening after President Trump extended the CDC coronavirus guidelines until the end of April, but stocks had recovered by the open and are now picking back up on the rally that was seen during most of last week amid encouraging news on testing and vaccine development from the likes of Abbott (ABT) and J&J (JNJ).
ECONOMIC EVENTS: In U.S. data, an index of pending home sales rose 2.4% to 111.5 in February, which was better than forecast. The Dallas Fed manufacturing index plunged 68.8 points to an all-time low of -70.0 in March.
Meanwhile, the latest data from the Johns Hopkins Whiting School of Engineering shows there are now 741,030 confirmed cases of COVID-19 and 35,114 deaths due to the disease.
TOP NEWS: Shares of Johnson & Johnson are up 6.5% at midday after the pharma giant announced the selection of a lead COVID-19 vaccine candidate from constructs it has been working on since January 2020. Additionally, J&J announced the rapid scaling of the company's manufacturing capacity, with the goal of providing global supply of more than one billion doses of a vaccine if one is found to be successful. Of note, Johnson & Johnson CEO Alex Gorsky said while being interviewed on CNBC that the company's work on a COVID-19 vaccine will be done on a not-for-profit basis in the interest of public health.
Abbott shares are 7% higher near noon after the company said Friday that it has received emergency use authorization from the U.S. FDA for "the fastest available molecular point-of-care test" for the detection of novel coronavirus. Abbott's test can deliver positive results in as little as five minutes and negative results in 13 minutes, the company noted.
Meanwhile, shares of Microsoft (MSFT) are on the rise on Monday after the company said in a blog post that it has seen a 775% usage increase of its Microsoft 365 cloud services in regions that have enforced social distancing or shelter in place orders.
Additionally, shares of Macy's (M) are fractionally lower after the retailer told staff that it will furlough the majority of its employees since it has lost most of its sales despite continuing to sell products online.
MAJOR MOVERS: Among the noteworthy gainers was Owens & Minor (OMI), which rose 32% after it maintained its fiscal 2020 EPS guidance and said it has been ramping up personal protective equipment production since January. Also higher was Carvana (CVNA), which gained 9% after it announced a $600M registered direct offering and withdrew its previous guidance provided on February 26.
Among the notable losers was Service Properties (SVC), which slid 21% after it announced a cut to its dividend as part of its efforts to mitigate COVID-19. Also lower was Tegna (TGNA), which fell 19% after it said that two of four parties that had made unsolicited acquisition proposals in recent weeks have subsequently informed Tegna that they were ceasing discussions.
INDEXES: Near midday, the Dow was up 463.40, or 2.14%, to 22,100.18 , the Nasdaq was up 207.41, or 2.76%, to 7,709.79 , and the S&P 500 was up 60.95, or 2.40%, to 2,602.42 .
Johnson & Johnson
+8.49 (+6.89%)
Abbott
+5.41 (+7.26%)
Macy's
-0.02 (-0.36%)
Microsoft
+9.14 (+6.11%)
Owens & Minor
+1.725 (+31.34%)
Carvana
+5 (+10.20%)
Service Properties
-1.41 (-20.29%)
Tegna
-2.6 (-19.70%)