The major averages on Wall Street got a boost from what appear to be solid odds for another shot of fiscal stimulus before month-end. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and other top Republican lawmakers are scheduled to release a series of bills that represent the party's $1T plan for a new virus stimulus package later today, which will start the negotiations with Democrats, who have forwarded their own $3.5T stimulus proposal. While earnings volumes were not particularly heavy this morning, the market is at the start of a major week for technology company reports, with Apple (AAPL), Amazon (AMZN), Alphabet (GOOGL) and Facebook (FB) all scheduled to report quarterly results this week.
ECONOMIC EVENTS: In the U.S., durable goods orders rose 7.3% in June. The Dallas Fed manufacturing index rose 3.1 points to -3.0 in July.
The latest data from the Johns Hopkins Whiting School of Engineering shows there are now 16.3M confirmed cases of COVID-19 worldwide, including 4.24M in the U.S., and 649,662 deaths due to the disease. Of note, Florida reported 432,747 cases, up from 423,855 yesterday, while Arizona reported a 1,813 increase in cases. California reported 460,550 cases in the state, up 6,891 from the previous day.
Meanwhile, CNN reported that Senate Republicans intend to release their $1T COVID-19 relief package on Monday afternoon following days of delay and struggles to align with the White House. The GOP proposal will sit around $1T and include $105B for schools, a second round of direct payments to individuals and families, $16B in new money for testing, a second targeted round of forgivable small business loans form the Paycheck Protection Program, and a collection of tax incentives for employers to rehire, retain, and retrofit their offices for employees.
TOP NEWS: Shares of Moderna (MRNA) rose 9.1% after the company announced the Phase III COVE trial initiated dosing the SARS-CoV-2 vaccine mRNA-1273. The 30,000 subject trial is now fully supported by an additional grant for up to $472M from the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority, which was awarded over the weekend.
Shares of SAP (SAP) were 3.7% higher after the European tech giant reported earnings and announced its intent to take Qualtrics public through an initial public offering in the U.S.
In executive change news, Walgreens Boots Alliance (WBA) announced plans for a transition of leadership, stating that Stefano Pessina has decided to step down as CEO.
Meanwhile, Amazon (AMZN) was in focus after Reuters reported that California Attorney General Xavier Becerra has initiated a probe into steps Amazon has taken to protect its staff from COVID-19. According to a court filing, the attorney general's office, California's Division of Occupational Safety and Health and the San Francisco Department of Public Health "have all opened investigations into Amazon's practices" around the coronavirus pandemic.
MAJOR MOVERS: Among the noteworthy gainers was Sogou (SOGO), which jumped 48% higher after it received a non-binding proposal from Tencent (TCEHY) to acquire the company. Also higher was CNX Midstream Partners (CNXM), which gained 22.4% after CNX Resources (CNX) agreed to acquire the remaining stake it does not already own. CNX Resources fell 8.7% after the news. In addition, Universal Display (OLED) was 8.8% higher after Oppenheimer analyst Martin Yang upgraded the stock to Outperform from Perform.
Among the notable losers was Hasbro (HAS), which slid 7.4% after reporting lower-than-expected quarterly results. Also lower was DraftKings (DKNG), which fell 6.5% after Major League Baseball confirmed that tonight's scheduled games between the Miami Marlins and the Baltimore Orioles and the Philadelphia Phillies and the New York Yankees have been postponed while the league conducts additional COVID-19 testing.
INDEXES: The Dow rose 114.88, or 0.43%, to 26,584.77, the Nasdaq gained 173.09, or 1.67%, to 10,536.27, and the S&P 500 advanced 23.78, or 0.74%, to 3,239.41.
Moderna
+6.7 (+9.15%)
SAP
+6.085 (+3.83%)
Walgreens Boots Alliance
-0.64 (-1.58%)
Amazon.com
+47.04 (+1.56%)
Sogou
+2.74 (+47.65%)
Tencent
+ (+0.00%)
CNX Midstream Partners
+1.505 (+22.80%)
CNX Resources
-0.845 (-8.79%)
Universal Display
+13.61 (+8.68%)
Hasbro
-5.68 (-7.32%)
DraftKings
-2.41 (-6.42%)