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U.S. stocks posted another big gain Thursday, despite a depressing unemployment report, as investors expected the House of Representatives to pass the $2 trillion coronavirus stimulus bill after the Senate did the same.
• The Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA, +6.38% soared 1,352 points (or 6.4%) to close at 22,552.17. That made for three straight sessions of increases, for a gain of 21.3% since the Dow closed at 18,591.93 on Monday. So there’s a new bull market for the Dow, with a run of more than 20%. Then again, the Dow is down 23.7% from its record closing high Feb. 12. (All prices in this article exclude dividends.)
• The S&P 500 Index SPX, +6.24% was up 6.2% on Thursday, also rising for a third straight day. The benchmark was up 17.6% from Monday’s close, but down 22.3% from its closing high Feb. 19.
• The Nasdaq Composite Index COMP, +5.60% was up 5.6% on Thursday, also rising for a third straight day, bringing the total gain to 13.7% since the close Monday. The Nasdaq was down 20.6% from its closing high Feb. 19.
Investors were relieved that the Senate passed the Coronavirus Aid, Relief & Economic Security Act. The House of Representatives is widely expected to pass the bill Friday and send it to President Trump for signing into law. The bill includes provisions for small businesses, student-loan borrowers, an extra $600 a week for people collecting unemployment benefits, and direct payments to individuals and families. Click here to see the entire bill.
As if to underline the importance of the CARES Act, Thursday’s unemployment figures included a record 3.28 million in claims for the week ended March 21.
MarketWatch’s Mark Hulbert warned that investors’ euphoric reaction to the Senate’s action doesn’t mean the stock market is anywhere near bottoming amid the coronavirus crisis.
Dow 30
All but one of the 30 components of the Dow Jones Industrial Average were up Thursday:
| Company | Ticker | Price change – March 26, 2020 | Decline from 52-week high | Price change – 2020 | Price change – 2019 |
| Boeing Co. | BA, +13.75% | 13.7% | -54.7% | -44.6% | 1.0% |
| Chevron Corp. | CVX, +10.26% | 10.3% | -40.0% | -36.6% | 10.8% |
| Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc. | WBA, +10.21% | 10.2% | -29.2% | -22.5% | -13.7% |
| UnitedHealth Group Inc. | UNH, +8.91% | 8.9% | -16.7% | -13.1% | 18.0% |
| United Technologies Corp. | UTX, +8.78% | 8.8% | -34.0% | -30.1% | 40.6% |
| Intel Corp. | INTC, +8.35% | 8.5% | -19.7% | -7.1% | 27.5% |
| Merck & Co. Inc. | MRK, +7.78% | 7.8% | -20.6% | -19.2% | 19.0% |
| Cisco Systems Inc. | CSCO, +7.72% | 7.7% | -30.3% | -15.4% | 10.7% |
| Home Depot Inc. | HD, +7.40% | 7.4% | -21.1% | -10.6% | 27.1% |
| Verizon Communications Inc. | VZ, +7.21% | 7.2% | -14.0% | -12.8% | 9.2% |
| Travelers Companies Inc. | TRV, +7.04% | 7.0% | -36.4% | -28.0% | 14.4% |
| JPMorgan Chase & Co. | JPM, +6.97% | 7.0% | -30.5% | -29.6% | 42.8% |
| Goldman Sachs Group Inc. | GS, +6.87% | 6.9% | -33.8% | -27.9% | 37.6% |
| Pfizer Inc. | PFE, +6.72% | 6.7% | -28.7% | -19.0% | -10.2% |
| Nike Inc. Class B | NKE, +6.70% | 6.7% | -20.2% | -16.8% | 36.6% |
| International Business Machines Corp. | IBM, +6.65% | 6.7% | -28.9% | -15.8% | 17.9% |
| Coca-Cola Co. | KO, +6.44% | 6.4% | -26.3% | -20.0% | 16.9% |
| Procter & Gamble Co. | PG, +6.40% | 6.4% | -16.2% | -14.0% | 35.9% |
| Microsoft Corp. | MSFT, +6.26% | 6.1% | -18.3% | -1.2% | 55.3% |
| Johnson & Johnson | JNJ, +6.01% | 6.0% | -18.1% | -13.2% | 13.0% |
| Caterpillar Inc. | CAT, +5.57% | 5.6% | -26.6% | -25.2% | 16.2% |
| Apple Inc. | AAPL, +5.26% | 5.3% | -21.2% | -12.0% | 86.2% |
| Walt Disney Co. | DIS, +4.60% | 4.6% | -31.3% | -27.2% | 31.9% |
| Visa Inc. Class A | V, +4.39% | 4.4% | -21.1% | -10.1% | 42.4% |
| Exxon Mobil Corp. | XOM, +4.10% | 4.1% | -53.5% | -44.4% | 2.3% |
| 3M Co. | MMM, +3.53% | 3.5% | -38.0% | -22.8% | -7.4% |
| American Express Co. | AXP, +3.46% | 3.5% | -32.5% | -25.1% | 30.6% |
| McDonald’s Corp. | MCD, +2.68% | 2.7% | -24.6% | -15.3% | 11.3% |
| Walmart Inc. | WMT, +0.38% | 0.4% | -14.3% | -7.6% | 27.6% |
| Dow Inc. | DOW, -2.30% | -2.3% | -51.0% | -45.8% | N/A |
| Source: FactSet | |||||
You can click on the tickers for more about each company. Scroll the table to see all the data.
Boeing US:BA is another example of how tremendous recent gains need to be put into perspective. After four straight sessions of double-digit gains, the stock was up 90% since the close on Friday, March 20. But the shares were down 47% since the S&P 500 set its closing record on Feb. 19, down 45% in 2020 and down 51% from a year earlier. The CARES bill includes up to $500 billion in “subsidy amounts” for loans, loan guarantees and “other investments” in companies of all sizes. It remains to be seen how much, if any, aid Boeing will receive from the federal government.
S&P 500
On Thursday, 469 components of the S&P 500 were up, with 79 showing double-digit gains. All 11 sectors posted gains:
| S&P 500 sector | Price change – March 26 | Price change since Feb. 19 | Price change – 2020 | Price change – 2019 |
| Utilities | 8.4% | -20.7% | -14.2% | 22.2% |
| Real Estate | 7.8% | -24.2% | -19.3% | 24.9% |
| Health Care | 7.0% | -16.1% | -14.6% | 18.7% |
| Financials | 6.4% | -29.8% | -29.3% | 29.2% |
| Industrials | 6.4% | -26.5% | -24.3% | 26.8% |
| Information Technology | 6.3% | -19.5% | -10.0% | 48.0% |
| Energy | 6.2% | -43.2% | -48.8% | 7.6% |
| Communication Services | 6.1% | -21.2% | -16.2% | 30.9% |
| Consumer Staples | 5.7% | -16.3% | -14.4% | 24.0% |
| Materials | 4.9% | -23.8% | -25.0% | 21.9% |
| Consumer Discretionary | 4.3% | -22.0% | -17.1% | 26.2% |
| Source: FactSet | ||||
Here are the top 20 performers among the S&P 500 for the session:
| Company | Ticker | Price change – March 26, 2020 | Price change since Feb. 19 | Decline from 52-week high | Price change – 2020 | Price change – 2019 |
| Coty Inc. Class A | COTY, +24.16% | 24.2% | -41.9% | -52.7% | -40.6% | 71.5% |
| Sysco Corp. | SYY, +17.15% | 17.2% | -29.8% | -37.8% | -37.5% | 36.5% |
| Citizens Financial Group Inc. | CFG, +17.00% | 17.0% | -46.0% | -49.8% | -49.0% | 36.6% |
| Fifth Third Bancorp | FITB, +16.87% | 16.9% | -41.6% | -45.3% | -43.7% | 30.6% |
| KeyCorp | KEY, +16.70% | 16.7% | -41.9% | -44.2% | -43.4% | 36.9% |
| HP Inc. | HPQ, +16.64% | 16.6% | -20.0% | -25.0% | -12.7% | 0.4% |
| Gartner Inc. | IT, +16.40% | 16.4% | -31.6% | -38.8% | -31.8% | 20.5% |
| H&R Block Inc. | HRB, +15.07% | 15.1% | -31.3% | -46.4% | -32.4% | -7.4% |
| Valero Energy Corp. | VLO, +15.06% | 15.1% | -45.2% | -55.3% | -51.3% | 24.9% |
| TransDigm Group Inc. | TDG, +14.85% | 14.9% | -37.3% | -40.3% | -28.2% | 64.7% |
| Lincoln National Corp. | LNC, +14.67% | 14.7% | -52.7% | -57.4% | -51.2% | 15.0% |
| Carnival Corp. | CCL, +14.60% | 14.6% | -58.9% | -68.7% | -64.9% | 3.1% |
| Synchrony Financial | SYF, +14.23% | 14.2% | -43.0% | -50.2% | -47.2% | 53.5% |
| Boeing Co. | US:BA | 13.7% | -46.6% | -54.7% | -44.6% | 1.0% |
| CBRE Group Inc. Class A | CBRE, +13.55% | 13.5% | -35.9% | -37.2% | -33.7% | 53.1% |
| Cboe Global Markets Inc. | CBOE, +13.53% | 13.5% | -24.6% | -29.0% | -24.3% | 22.7% |
| Humana Inc. | HUM, +13.19% | 13.2% | -19.6% | -20.9% | -16.9% | 27.9% |
| U.S. Bancorp | USB, +12.96% | 13.0% | -33.9% | -40.8% | -39.0% | 29.7% |
| Accenture PLC Class A | ACN, +12.86% | 12.9% | -20.6% | -20.8% | -18.6% | 49.3% |
| Regions Financial Corp. | RF, +12.83% | 12.8% | -40.0% | -43.8% | -42.6% | 28.3% |
| Source: FactSet | ||||||
Nasdaq-100
Here are Thursday’s top 20 components of the Nasdaq-100 Index NDX, +5.72%
| Company | Ticker | Price change – March 26, 2020 | Price change since Feb. 19 | Decline from 52-week high | Price change – 2020 | Price change – 2019 |
| NetApp Inc. | NTAP, +12.63% | 12.6% | -29.2% | -45.8% | -31.8% | 4.3% |
| Automatic Data Processing Inc. | ADP, +11.80% | 11.8% | -32.4% | -24.8% | -19.6% | 30.0% |
| Broadcom Inc. | AVGO, +11.78% | 11.8% | -31.1% | -26.7% | -23.1% | 24.3% |
| Lam Research Corp. | LRCX, +11.47% | 11.5% | -30.0% | -24.4% | -11.0% | 114.7% |
| Electronic Arts Inc. | EA, +10.66% | 10.7% | -18.3% | -13.1% | -7.7% | 36.2% |
| Illumina Inc. | ILMN, +10.51% | 10.5% | -18.1% | -27.9% | -17.3% | 10.6% |
| Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc. | US:WBA | 10.2% | -20.4% | -29.2% | -22.5% | -13.7% |
| Seattle Genetics Inc. | SGEN, +10.13% | 10.1% | -12.0% | -6.6% | 1.6% | 101.7% |
| Applied Materials Inc. | AMAT, +9.99% | 10.0% | -33.6% | -29.1% | -19.4% | 86.4% |
| CDW Corp. | CDW, +9.96% | 10.0% | -32.7% | -30.8% | -29.2% | 76.2% |
| Comcast Corp. Class A | CMCSA, +9.44% | 9.4% | -27.0% | -23.0% | -18.3% | 32.1% |
| Qualcomm Inc. | QCOM, +9.35% | 9.4% | -30.3% | -28.3% | -21.8% | 55.0% |
| O’Reilly Automotive Inc. | ORLY, +9.31% | 9.3% | -23.8% | -28.1% | -25.4% | 27.3% |
| Paychex Inc. | PAYX, +9.29% | 9.3% | -33.3% | -27.5% | -22.8% | 30.6% |
| Activision Blizzard Inc. | ATVI, +9.17% | 9.2% | -17.9% | -10.6% | -2.9% | 27.6% |
| Cadence Design Systems Inc. | CDNS, +9.11% | 9.1% | -23.3% | -16.7% | -3.5% | 59.5% |
| Intuitive Surgical Inc. | ISRG, +8.94% | 8.9% | -25.1% | -19.0% | -15.2% | 23.4% |
| KLA Corp. | KLAC, +8.94% | 8.9% | -20.5% | -18.8% | -15.9% | 99.1% |
| Skyworks Solutions Inc. | SWKS, +8.93% | 8.9% | -28.4% | -27.6% | -23.1% | 80.4% |
| Citrix Systems Inc. | CTXS, +8.80% | 8.8% | 3.6% | -2.3% | 24.3% | 8.2% |
| Source: FactSet | ||||||
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