Nasdaq closes at record, Dow breaks losing streak
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rallied for the first time in four sessions thanks to upbeat news on a potential COVID-19 vaccine.
Johnson and Johnson is planning to start a huge clinical trial next month on a possible COVID-19 vaccine, according to a U.S. government database.
The late-stage trial will include up to 60,000 volunteers, spread across numerous countries. When contacted by Reuters, a spokesperson for J&J confirmed details of the trial. Shares of Johnson and Johnson moved higher.
That news helped offset some disappointing economic data. New applications for jobless claims jumped back above 1 million last week after dipping below that mark for the first time since the crisis began. Some 28 million Americans are receiving unemployment assistance.
The Dow gained 46 points. The S&P 500 rose 10 point. The Nasdaq set a fresh record closing high.
But a number of market internal measures watched by Reuters stocks buzz editor Terence Gabriel is pointing to a market that's not all rah-rah as it seems on the surface.
"It does show you though that a new high in itself does not mean that it's just going to carry forward in a sustained manner. There is a lot of doubt here given the fact that we're seeing divergences in the advanced-decline line of the Nasdaq. We're seeing breadth momentum measures not confirming the new high and we're also seeing tremendous complacency. So when we look at these in total, it seems to suggest that there's a lot of risk here that this market is vulnerable to a sudden reversal."
And speaking of reversals....Lyft and Uber ditched early losses and revved higher into the close. A California appeals court issued a last-minute ruling temporarily halting a lower court order that would have forced the ride-hailing apps to treat their drivers as employees. Lyft and Uber had threatened to pull their business out of the most populous state in the Union. Lyft railed nearly 6 percent. Uber rallied close to 7 percent.
