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U.S. stocks staged a massive rally Wednesday, with health-care companies leading the charge after former Vice President Joe Biden jumped ahead of Sen. Bernie Sanders in the race toward the Democratic presidential nomination.
After Biden took 10 of 14 states Super Tuesday to overtake Sanders in the delegate count and become the Democratic front runner, Michael Bloomberg dropped out of the race and threw his support behind Biden, following Sen. Amy Klobuchar and former South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg over the previous few days.
Investors sent the Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA, +4.53% 1,173 points higher to close at 27,090.86. The S&P 500 SPX, +4.22% shot up 4.2% to 3,130.12, bringing the benchmark index within 8% of its closing high Feb. 19. The Nasdaq Composite Index COMP, +3.85% added 3.9% to close at 9,018.09.
The health-care sector of the S&P 500 was up 5.8% on Wednesday, reflecting an easing of worry of what socialized medicine — championed by Sanders and Sen. Elizabeth Warren — would mean for the nation’s largest health-service providers and insurers. The top five performers of the S&P 500 were all managed-care providers. They are listed below.
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Biden’s comeback took the coronavirus out of the top headlines for a day, although the Federal Reserve’s Beige Book, published Wednesday, included anecdotes indicating the coronavirus would disrupt supply chains over coming weeks, but also that U.S. economic growth had slowed even before the outbreak of the virus.
Dow 30
All 30 components of the Dow Jones Industrial Average ended higher Wednesday:
| Company | Ticker | Price change – March 4, 2020 | Price change since Feb. 19 | Decline from 52-week high | Price change – 2020 | Price change – 2019 |
| UnitedHealth Group Inc. | UNH, +10.72% | 10.7% | -5.2% | -5.6% | -1.6% | 18.0% |
| American Express Co. | AXP, +7.12% | 7.1% | -15.5% | -16.2% | -7.1% | 30.6% |
| Pfizer Inc. | PFE, +6.12% | 6.1% | 0.5% | -18.3% | -7.1% | -10.2% |
| 3M Co. | MMM, +6.02% | 6.0% | -3.4% | -30.0% | -12.8% | -7.4% |
| Johnson & Johnson | JNJ, +5.82% | 5.8% | -3.7% | -7.1% | -1.6% | 13.0% |
| Home Depot Inc. | HD, +5.76% | 5.7% | -1.1% | -2.6% | 10.4% | 27.1% |
| Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc. | WBA, +5.57% | 5.6% | -6.5% | -31.6% | -17.4% | -13.7% |
| Procter & Gamble Co. | PG, +5.36% | 5.4% | -0.7% | -2.8% | -0.3% | 35.9% |
| Coca-Cola Co. | KO, +5.10% | 5.1% | -1.4% | -2.0% | 6.4% | 16.9% |
| Travelers Companies Inc. | TRV, +4.96% | 5.0% | -2.2% | -15.2% | -4.0% | 14.4% |
| United Technologies Corp. | UTX, +4.91% | 4.9% | -7.7% | -12.2% | -7.1% | 40.6% |
| Merck & Co. Inc. | MRK, +4.85% | 4.9% | 1.2% | -10.4% | -8.8% | 19.0% |
| Intel Corp. | INTC, +4.84% | 4.8% | -12.6% | -15.3% | -2.0% | 27.5% |
| Apple Inc. | AAPL, +4.64% | 4.6% | -6.5% | -7.7% | 3.1% | 86.2% |
| Visa Inc. Class A | V, +4.61% | 4.6% | -8.9% | -9.3% | 3.4% | 42.4% |
| Chevron Corp. | CVX, +4.39% | 4.4% | -11.0% | -22.6% | -18.2% | 10.8% |
| Verizon Communications Inc. | VZ, +4.34% | 4.3% | -0.2% | -6.6% | -5.3% | 9.2% |
| International Business Machines Corp. | IBM, +4.13% | 4.1% | -11.0% | -15.5% | 0.1% | 17.9% |
| McDonald’s Corp. | MCD, +3.76% | 3.8% | -4.0% | -6.7% | 4.8% | 11.3% |
| Microsoft Corp. | MSFT, +3.67% | 3.7% | -8.9% | -10.6% | 8.1% | 55.3% |
| Walmart Inc. | WMT, +3.42% | 3.4% | -0.8% | -6.9% | -1.7% | 27.6% |
| Cisco Systems Inc. | CSCO, +3.37% | 3.4% | -10.6% | -29.0% | -13.7% | 10.7% |
| Dow Inc. | DOW, +3.33% | 3.3% | -11.9% | -30.8% | -23.5% | #N/A |
| Nike Inc. Class B | NKE, +3.15% | 3.1% | -8.5% | -11.2% | -7.4% | 36.6% |
| Goldman Sachs Group Inc. | GS, +2.61% | 2.6% | -12.0% | -16.7% | -9.2% | 37.6% |
| J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. | JPM, +2.47% | 2.5% | -12.8% | -15.1% | -14.0% | 42.8% |
| Caterpillar Inc. | CAT, +2.43% | 2.4% | -6.9% | -15.4% | -13.7% | 16.2% |
| Walt Disney Co. | DIS, +2.34% | 2.3% | -15.7% | -22.3% | -17.6% | 31.9% |
| Exxon Mobil Corp. | XOM, +2.18% | 2.2% | -13.1% | -37.2% | -24.9% | 2.3% |
| Boeing Co. | BA, +0.89% | 0.9% | -16.3% | -36.5% | -13.1% | 1.0% |
| Source: FactSet | ||||||
You can click on the tickers for more about each company.
S&P 500
Among the S&P 500, 475 stocks ended higher Wednesday. Here are the day’s 10 best performers:
| Company | Ticker | Price change – March 4, 2020 | Price change since Feb. 19 | Decline from 52-week high | Price change – 2020 | Price change – 2019 |
| Anthem Inc. | ANTM, +15.62% | 15.6% | -2.5% | -5.1% | -1.9% | 15.0% |
| Centene Corp. | CNC, +15.60% | 15.6% | -7.3% | -9.0% | -0.7% | 9.1% |
| Humana Inc. | HUM, +14.44% | 14.4% | -1.6% | -3.3% | 1.6% | 27.9% |
| Cigna Corp. | CI, +10.72% | 10.8% | -5.3% | -6.7% | 2.5% | 7.7% |
| UnitedHealth Group Inc. | UNH, +10.72% | 10.7% | -5.2% | -5.6% | -1.6% | 18.0% |
| L Brands Inc. | LB, +10.28% | 10.2% | -1.1% | -16.1% | 34.3% | -29.4% |
| Campbell Soup Co. | CPB, +10.11% | 10.2% | 10.4% | 1.4% | 6.8% | 49.8% |
| Eli Lilly and Co. | LLY, +7.73% | 7.8% | -0.3% | -5.0% | 6.8% | 13.6% |
| Equifax Inc. | EFX, +7.67% | 7.7% | 0.6% | -1.2% | 16.2% | 50.5% |
| Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc. | VRTX, +7.47% | 7.5% | -1.0% | -1.8% | 12.0% | 32.1% |
| Source: FactSet | ||||||
Nasdaq
Here are the 10 best performer among components of the Nasdaq-100 Index NDX, +4.13% on Wednesday:
| Company | Ticker | Price change – March 4, 2020 | Price change since Feb. 19 | Decline from 52-week high | Price change – 2020 | Price change – 2019 |
| Seattle Genetics Inc. | SGEN, +7.99% | 8.0% | -10.4% | -6.7% | 1.5% | 101.7% |
| Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc. | VRTX, +7.47% | 7.5% | -7.9% | -1.8% | 12.0% | 32.1% |
| Take-Two Interactive Software Inc. | TTWO, +7.37% | 7.4% | -2.0% | -12.0% | -2.5% | 18.9% |
| Advanced Micro Devices Inc. | AMD, +7.19% | 7.2% | -20.6% | -15.5% | 9.3% | 148.4% |
| Nvidia Corp. | NVDA, +7.00% | 7.0% | -15.5% | -10.1% | 20.9% | 76.3% |
| Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc. | REGN, +6.92% | 6.9% | 15.2% | -0.2% | 31.4% | 0.5% |
| Micron Technology Inc. | MU, +6.74% | 6.7% | -13.7% | -9.6% | 2.8% | 69.5% |
| Monster Beverage Corp. | MNST, +6.69% | 6.7% | -9.0% | -3.5% | 7.1% | 29.1% |
| CoStar Group Inc. | CSGP, +6.51% | 6.5% | -6.5% | -1.6% | 22.8% | 77.4% |
| Activision Blizzard Inc. | ATVI, +6.47% | 6.5% | -8.7% | -3.1% | 5.3% | 27.6% |
| Source: FactSet | ||||||
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