Monday, May 23, 2022

DJIA: 31,880.24, up 618.34
S&P 500: 3,973.75, up 72.39
Nasdaq: 11,535.27, up 180.65

Stocks rise in relief rally; banks jump

U.S. stocks finished higher on Monday in a broad-based relief rally. The Dow added 618 points, consolidating from its eighth consecutive weekly decline–and longest such losing streak in nearly a century. The S&P 500 advanced 1.9% after briefly wading in bear market territory (defined as a 20% drawdown from a recent peak) during intraday trading Friday. The Nasdaq Composite climbed 1.6%. Both the S&P 500 and Nasdaq just came off a seventh straight weekly drop, their worst runs since 2001, amid increasing recessionary concerns.

Today, oversold conditions and depressed positioning were once again cited as helping buoy risk appetite. Further aiding sentiment was the prospect of the Biden administration rescinding some Trump-era tariffs imposed on Chinese goods in order to alleviate some inflation pressure. Amid the perceived risk on mood, a gauge of the U.S. dollar fell 1%. Treasuries weakened, with the yield on the 10-year note rising eight basis points (0.08%) to 2.86%.

All 11 S&P 500 sectors closed in positive territory, with Financials pacing gains. JPMorgan Chase & Co. soared 6.2% following upbeat comments regarding the state of the U.S. economy from CEO Jamie Dimon during the firm’s Investor Day. Other bank shares caught a tailwind from the remarks, which included a boost to JPMorgan’s net interest income guidance. The KBW Bank Index jumped 4.1% in its best day since early March. In other corporate news, VMware Inc. surged 24.8% amid reports chipmaker Broadcom Inc. was engaged in discussions to purchase the cloud-computing company in a cash and stock deal.

Read more about it here.
https://bit.ly/3pIztIw