S&P 500 ends on record as stocks shake JNJ vaccine break and bond yields fall

How were stock benchmarks traded?

• The Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA,
  -0.20%
  fell 68.13 points to finish at 33,677.27, a decline of 0.2%.

• The S&P 500 SPX Index,
  + 0.33%
  it rose 13.60 points, closing 0.3%, to a record 4,141.59, the 21st of the year.

• The Nasdaq COMP Composite Index,
  + 1.05%
  increased 146.10 points, or 1.1%, to 13,996.10.

On Monday, the Dow slid 55.20 points to close at 33,745.40, down 0.2%; the S&P 500 gave up less than a point to finish with 4,127.99; while the Nasdaq Composite fell 50.19 points, ending at 13,850.00, with a loss of 0.4%.

What drove the market?

Technology stocks rose as bond yields fell on Tuesday. A successful 30-year public bond auction in the afternoon showed that it was returning the U.S. Treasury’s debt demand, helped by Federal Reserve messages that its monetary policy will remain accommodative.

“Bond yields have stabilized for the most part, setting the stage for strong stock markets and a certain rotation towards longer-lasting technological issues. It seems that the Fed’s calm has had its expected effect in markets that were largely sidelined by recent IPC and CPI data releases, ”said Scott Knapp, CUNA Mutual Group’s chief market strategist.

However, chip stocks were delayed after the two major U.S. federal public health agencies, the Food and Drug Administration and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, called for an immediate pause in the use of Johnson & Johnson’s. JNJ,
-1.34%
The COVID-19 vaccine, after six recipient women in the U.S., developed an uncommon disorder involving blood clots within six to 13 days after the vaccine.

The news had a modest impact on the mood of investment on Wall Street, but they may recall some of the challenges of reopening the economy from the worst pandemic in more than a century.

“Fortunately, the implementation of vaccination in the United States is underway, so the negative effect on both oil stocks and the U.S. should be quite limited,” wrote Stephen Innes, Axis’ chief global strategist. . He added that with the stock market almost record, it has been sensitive to negative headlines.

So far, nearly 7 million Americans have received shots from J&J and about 9 million more have been delivered to states, according to CDC data. FDA and CDC scientists will jointly investigate possible links between the vaccine and the coagulation disorder and determine whether to continue using or limiting it.

The J&J vaccine, which showed 66.1% efficacy in preventing moderate to severe disease, had been seen as a game changer for rapid vaccination of Americans. J&J’s shot was the third authorized for the U.S., behind the two-time Pfizer PFE,
+ 0.51%
and Modern MRNA,
+ 7.40%
vaccines.

The vaccine report comes as the U.S. faces a further increase in COVID cases, with reports of 70,000 new coronavirus infections a day, according to data from Johns Hopkins University. That’s even after he hit the record for one-day shots of 4.6 million shots on Sunday. Michigan has been advised by the CDC to “shut things up” to help fight the country’s worst coronavirus outbreak.

The economic recovery has been closely tied to the U.S. vaccination effort and its work to get children back to school.

James Bullard, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis said Monday that while it was too early to talk about returning central bank housing, he said vaccinating 75 percent or 80 percent of people could indicate it’s time to turn down the volume of purchases. of Fed bonds.

Meanwhile, the data showed that US consumer prices rose in March for the fourth consecutive month, with the rate of inflation reaching its highest level in 2½ years. The inflation rate last year rose to 2.6%, from 1.7% the previous month, marking the highest level since the fall of 2018.

Fed officials have stressed that they are willing to keep benchmark interest rates close to 0%, even if inflation starts to rise because policymakers think it will be transitory. However, market participants have expressed some skepticism about the central bank’s inflation outlook.

I will see: The Fed doesn’t see inflation running out of control, Harker says

Which companies did you focus on?

• Nvidia Corp.
  NVDA,
  + 3.09%
  shares closed the record high on Tuesday as analysts raised price targets and applauded the chip maker’s plans to branch out into the territory of its rivals.

• Shares of J&J closed 1.3% after the FDA and CDC called for an immediate pause in the use of the COVID-19 vaccine on Tuesday “out of extreme caution.”

• Boeing Co.
  BA,
  + 1.50%
  shares gained 1.5% after reporting delivery of 77 commercial aircraft in the first quarter, 54% more than the number delivered in the first quarter of 2020.

• Based in Singapore Grab Holdings Inc. it was reported that he planned to make himself public through a merger with a special purpose acquisition company Altimeter Growth Corp. AGC. Altimeter shares gained 9.9%.

• Nike Inc.
  DE,
  -2.27%
  shares fell 2.3% after detailing a program that would give a “second life” to returned shoes, an effort to address consumer concern about climate change and environmental degradation.

How did other assets work?

• The ICE DXY US dollar index, a measure of the currency against a basket of six major rivals, fell 0.3%.

• American crude CL.1,
  + 1.61%
  for May delivery CLK21,
  + 1.61%
  rose 38 cents, or 0.6 percent, to $ 59.70 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

• The yield on the 10-year Treasury note TMUBMUSD10Y fell 5 basis points to 1.62%. Bond prices move inversely toward yields.

• Gold futures ended higher, with the June GCM21 contract,
  -0.23%
  going up $ 14.90, or 0.9%, to settle at $ 1,747.60 an ounce at Comex.

• In Europe, the Stoxx 600 SXXP index finished 0.1% higher, while the London FTSE 100 UKX ended flat.

• In Asia, the Shanghai Composite SHCOMP finished 0.1% less, the Hong Kong Hang Seng HSI closed 0.2% and the Japanese Nikkei 225 NIK rose 0.7%.