Stocks are rising in a rebound from last week's downbeat trading after an index of pending home sales notched a record gain. Investors may also be positioning ahead of the impending end of the month and the upcoming long holiday weekend.
ECONOMIC EVENTS: In U.S. data, the pending home sales index jumped a record 44.3% to 99.6 in May. The Dallas Fed's manufacturing index climbed another 43.1 points to -6.1 in June, though that marks a fourth straight month of contraction.
The Federal Reserve, which has begun buying individual corporate bonds outright for the first time, detailed its purchases of corporate bonds on Sunday. The purchases span a range of industries and included bonds from AT&T (T), Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.A), Boeing (BA), CVS (CVS), Caterpillar (CAT), Chevron (CVX), Coca-Cola (KO), Dupont (DD), Ford (F), GM (GM), HP (HPQ), Home Depot (HD), IBM (IBM), Marriott (MAR), Medtronic (MDT), Paypal (PYPL), Pepsico (PEP), Philip Morris (PM), UnitedHealth (UNH) and Walmart (WMT).
The latest data from the Johns Hopkins Whiting School of Engineering shows there are now 10.18M confirmed cases of COVID-19 worldwide, including 2.55M in the U.S., and 502,634 deaths due to the disease.
TOP NEWS: Starbucks (SBUX) told CNBC in a statement this weekend that it will pause advertising on "all social media platforms" and have discussions internally and with media partners and civil rights organizations to stop the spread of hate speech, while Coca-Cola (KO) CEO James Quincey also said his company will pause paid advertising on all social media platforms globally for at least 30 days, becoming the latest big brand to do so. While the social advertising boycott has gained greater momentum over the past few days, JPMorgan analyst Doug Anmuth told investors in a research note that he does not expect significant risk to estimates for Facebook (FB). Many other marketers will take advantage of potentially lower-priced inventory, contends the analyst. He believes Twitter (TWTR) is most at risk given its "high degree of brand spend and function as an open town hall with more politicized nature." Anmuth continues to prefer Facebook and Snap (SNAP) in the online ad space, he noted.
Gilead (GILD) announced that it has set a price for governments of developed countries of $390 per vial for remdesivir, which has shown potential against COVID-19. The "vast majority of patients are expected to receive a 5-day treatment course using 6 vials of remdesivir, which equates to $2,340 per patient," the company said, adding that the pricing of remdesivir is set "to achieve the aim of providing immediate net savings for healthcare systems." However, "because of the way the U.S. system is set up and the discounts that government healthcare programs expect," the price for U.S. private insurance companies, will be $520 per vial, Gilead stated.
Shares of Boeing (BA) are up 6% following media reports indicating that the company has received Federal Aviation Administration approval to start test flights of its 737 Max to demonstrate that it can fly safely with new flight control software.
Shares of Intercept Pharmaceuticals (ICPT) have plunged 39% and been hit with multiple analyst downgrades after the company announced that the FDA has issued a Complete Response Letter regarding the New Drug Application for obeticholic acid for the treatment of fibrosis due to nonalcoholic steatohepatitis, or NASH. Similarly, Heron Therapeutics (HRTX) announced that it received a Complete Response Letter from the FDA regarding its New Drug Application for HTX-011 for the management of postoperative pain, with both companies stating that the FDA has asked for additional information related to their drug approval applications. Heron shares are down 28% near midday.
MAJOR MOVERS: Among the noteworthy gainers was Ideanomics (IDEX), which rose 47% after reponding to short-selling communications from J Capital and Hindenburg, rebuffing claims of not having sufficient cash to fund operations. Also higher was Kiniksa (KNSA), which gained 19% after the company said its Phase 3 trial of rilonacept met its efficacy endpoints.
Among the notable losers was Beyond Meat (BYND), which slid 9% after Barclays analyst Benjamin Theurer double downgraded the stock to Underweight from Overweight.
INDEXES: Near midday, the Dow was up 446.55, or 1.79%, to 25,462.10, the Nasdaq was up 93.69, or 0.96%, to 9,850.91, and the S&P 500 was up 35.93, or 1.19%, to 3,044.98.
Ticker changed to META
+1.57 (+0.73%)
Starbucks
+1.19 (+1.66%)
Coca-Cola
+0.75 (+1.72%)
Gilead
+0.58 (+0.78%)
+0.58 (+2.00%)
Snap
-0.16 (-0.69%)
Boeing
+10.23 (+6.02%)
Intercept
-29.68 (-38.27%)
Heron Therapeutics
-5.585 (-28.19%)
Ideanomics
+0.73 (+50.34%)
Beyond Meat
-12.9 (-9.11%)
Kiniksa
+4.82 (+20.92%)