US stocks rose for the second year in a row as traders digested positive economic news and the Food and Drug Administration’s approval of Pfizer’s COVID-19 pill for use in adults and children 12 years and older.
| ticker | safety | Last | change | Change% |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Me: DJI | DOW JONES AVERAGE VALUES | 35753.89 | +261.19 | + 0.74% |
| SP500 | S&P 500 | 4696.56 | +47.33 | +1.02% |
| Me: COMP | NASDAQ COMPOSITE INDEX | 15521.89237 | +180.81 | + 1.18% |
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 261 points, or 0.6%, building on its 560 point rise on Tuesday, while the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite rose 1% each.
Positive economic data included a rise in consumer confidence index to its best level since July, a better-than-expected third quarter GDP report of 2.3%, albeit well below the 6.7% increase in July, and home sales increased by 1.9%.
And the fight against COVID-19 also helped mood after the FDA said an oral pill to treat the virus was a turning point.
“Today’s approval introduces the first oral pill treatment for COVID-19 – a huge step forward in the fight against this global pandemic,” said Patrizia Cavazzoni, MD, director of the FDA’s Center for Drug Evaluation and Research an opinion. Merck is also awaiting its oral treatment from the FDA.
| ticker | safety | Last | change | Change% |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| PFE | PFIZER INC. | 59.55 | +0.60 | +1.02% |
| MRK | MERCK & CO. INC. | 76.16 | +0.62 | + 0.82% |
Other vaccine manufacturers remained active among investors as increasing cases of COVID-19 are reported and Americans seek booster vaccinations.
| ticker | safety | Last | change | Change% |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| MRNA | MODERNA INC. | 251.36 | -16.78 | -6.26% |
| PFE | PFIZER INC. | 59.55 | +0.60 | +1.02% |
| BNTX | BIONTECH SE | 259.70 | -11.76 | -4.33% |
Tesla shares rose after CEO Elon Musk signaled, according to an interview with Babylon Bee, that his year-end share sale is over for the time being.
| ticker | safety | Last | change | Change% |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| TSLA | TESLA INC. | 1,008.87 | +70.34 | + 7.49% |
Caterpillar was among the top stocks in the Dow after Bernstein upgraded stocks to outperformance, which forecast a price target of $ 240. Deere slipped.
| ticker | safety | Last | change | Change% |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| CAT | CATERPILLAR INC. | 202.15 | +3.84 | + 1.94% |
| FROM | DEERE & CO. | 347.00 | -2.81 | -0.80% |
Amazon stock also rose despite another morning outage from AWS – its cloud service that has taken multiple workstations offline.
| ticker | safety | Last | change | Change% |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| AMZN | AMAZON.COM INC. | 3,420.74 | +12.40 | + 0.36% |
In terms of earnings, BlackBerry shares reversed earlier losses and closed in a profit after posting better-than-expected quarterly results. As of Tuesday, the shares were up 39%.
| ticker | safety | Last | change | Change% |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| BB | BLACKBERRY LTD. | 9.40 | +0.15 | +1.62% |
Apparel maker Naked Brand is active as it began trading on a 1-in-15 split-adjusted basis.
| ticker | safety | Last | change | Change% |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| NAKD | NAKED BRAND GROUP | 6.25 | -0.98 | -13.52% |
PENDING HOUSE SALES IN THE US FALL UNEXPECTEDLY IN SEPTEMBER
In commodities, oil closed higher at $ 72.76 a barrel with an unexpected drop in weekly inventory levels of 4.7 million barrels, as reported by the EIA.
| ticker | safety | Last | change | Change% |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| USE | UNITED STATES OIL FUND LP | 52.48 | +0.91 | + 1.76% |
MAERSK REFIRS TO BUY LF LOGISTICS FOR 3.6 BLN
For global transactions, AP Moeller-Maersk AS has agreed to use LF Logistics Holdings Ltd. to buy in a cash-only store. The Danish shipping company announced that it will acquire 100% of the private logistics company based in the Asia-Pacific region for an enterprise value of 3.6 billion US dollars.
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Ken Martin of FOX Business and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
