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U.S. stocks rallied Wednesday, as some of the worst recent performers posted the biggest gains.
• The Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA, +3.44% shot up 780 points (or 3.4%) to close at 23,433.57. The index is now down 20.7% from its closing high Feb. 12. (All figures in this article exclude dividends.)
• The S&P 500 Index SPX, +3.40% rose 3.4% and ended 18.8% below its closing high Feb. 19.
• The Nasdaq Composite Index COMP, +2.58% showed a more modest gain of 2.6% and ended 17.6% below its record closing level set Feb. 19.
Once again, investors gained confidence in possible plans to reopen the U.S. economy, even though New York reported its largest one-day death toll from the coronavirus Tuesday. Another glimmer of hope was that the three-day average for new COVID-19 hospitalizations in the state had declined.
A private wealth manager at Goldman Sachs was bullish that government stimulus would make for a solid economic rebound. But MarketWatch’s Howard Gold cautioned that investors were facing a “long slog” back from the coronavirus crisis and expected recession.
The oil market gyrated, with West Texas Intermediate crude oil for May CL.1, +10.62% reversing the previous day’s decline to rise more than 11%, after a slew of U.S. oil companies announced production cuts.
Among the S&P 500 SPX, +3.40% sectors, real estate and energy were strongest Wednesday:
| S&P 500 sector | Price change – April 8 | Price change – 2020 |
| Real Estate | 7.4% | -12.7% |
| Energy | 6.7% | -42.5% |
| Utilities | 5.4% | -10.1% |
| Materials | 5.0% | -19.7% |
| Financials | 4.4% | -27.8% |
| Health Care | 4.2% | -7.4% |
| Industrials | 3.6% | -23.4% |
| Consumer Discretionary | 2.8% | -14.4% |
| Information Technology | 2.7% | -7.0% |
| Communication Services | 1.6% | -13.5% |
| Consumer Staples | 1.4% | -8.4% |
| Source: FactSet | ||
Here are the 20 stock among the S&P 500 that rose the most Wednesday:
| Company | Ticker | Price change – April 8 | Price change – 2020 | Price change – 2019 |
| Arconic Corp. | ARNC, +37.39% | 37% | N/A | N/A |
| Apache Corp. | APA, +16.25% | 16% | -70.4% | -2.5% |
| Welltower Inc. | WELL, +16.19% | 16% | -36.9% | 17.8% |
| TransDigm Group Inc. | TDG, +14.60% | 15% | -41.4% | 64.7% |
| Alliance Data Systems Corp. | ADS, +14.45% | 14% | -63.7% | -25.2% |
| DXC Technology Co. | DXC, +13.58% | 14% | -58.0% | -29.3% |
| Diamondback Energy Inc. | FANG, +13.54% | 14% | -59.6% | 0.2% |
| Wynn Resorts Ltd. | WYNN, +13.50% | 14% | -50.3% | 40.4% |
| Gap Inc. | GPS, +12.62% | 13% | -55.6% | -31.4% |
| Weyerhaeuser Co. | WY, +12.55% | 13% | -35.6% | 38.2% |
| Aptiv PLC | APTV, +12.52% | 13% | -36.6% | 54.2% |
| Occidental Petroleum Corp. | OXY, +12.42% | 12% | -62.2% | -32.9% |
| United Airlines Holdings Inc. | UAL, +12.37% | 12% | -68.8% | 5.2% |
| Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. | RCL, +11.95% | 12% | -71.9% | 36.5% |
| TechnipFMC PLC | FTI, +11.94% | 12% | -58.9% | 9.5% |
| Marriott International Inc. Class A | MAR, +11.79% | 12% | -45.5% | 39.5% |
| Healthpeak Properties Inc. | PEAK, +11.63% | 12% | -22.6% | 23.4% |
| Hess Corp. | HES, +11.49% | 11% | -41.4% | 65.0% |
| Ventas Inc. | VTR, +11.33% | 11% | -47.8% | -1.5% |
| Regency Centers Corp. | REG, +11.20% | 11% | -35.2% | 7.5% |
You can click on the tickers for more about each company.
Scroll the table to see all the data. The year-to-date declines are particularly striking for the stocks that performed best Wednesday.
The “old” Arconic Rolled Products Corp. separated itself into two companies April 1, with the old company being renamed Howmet Aerospace and trading under the ticker HWM, +8.01%, and the “new” Arconic Corp. trading under the ticker ARNC, +37.39% and retaining the formerly combined company’s aluminum rolled products business. So even though ARNC is the old ticker, on the list above, there is little history for the shares of the newly separated company. On Wednesday, ARNC announced a plan to cut its salaried workforce by 10% and reduce its CEO’s pay by 30%.
Dow
All but two of the 30 components of the Dow Jones Industrial Average were up Wednesday:
| Company | Ticker | Price change – April 8 | Price change – 2020 | Price change – 2019 |
| United Technologies Corp. | UTX, +2.36% | 8.4% | -29.1% | 40.6% |
| UnitedHealth Group Inc. | UNH, +7.97% | 8.0% | -8.9% | 18.0% |
| Dow Inc. | DOW, +7.60% | 7.6% | -36.4% | N/A |
| Goldman Sachs Group Inc. | GS, +6.59% | 6.6% | -23.0% | 37.6% |
| Exxon Mobil Corp. | XOM, +6.32% | 6.3% | -37.2% | 2.3% |
| Chevron Corp. | CVX, +6.25% | 6.3% | -28.7% | 10.8% |
| American Express Co. | AXP, +5.13% | 5.1% | -26.0% | 30.6% |
| Caterpillar Inc. | CAT, +4.49% | 4.5% | -13.7% | 16.2% |
| Johnson & Johnson | JNJ, +4.20% | 4.2% | -1.8% | 13.0% |
| Travelers Cos. Inc. | TRV, +4.12% | 4.1% | -23.4% | 14.4% |
| J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. | JPM, +4.03% | 4.0% | -32.4% | 42.8% |
| Merck & Co. Inc. | MRK, +3.89% | 3.9% | -10.3% | 19.0% |
| International Business Machines Corp. | IBM, +3.78% | 3.8% | -11.0% | 17.9% |
| Visa Inc. Class A | V, +3.76% | 3.8% | -6.9% | 42.4% |
| Boeing Co. | BA, +3.73% | 3.7% | -54.9% | 1.0% |
| 3M Co. | MMM, +3.03% | 3.0% | -15.5% | -7.4% |
| Pfizer Inc. | PFE, +2.94% | 2.9% | -11.7% | -10.2% |
| Coca-Cola Co. | KO, +2.81% | 2.8% | -13.6% | 16.9% |
| Cisco Systems Inc. | CSCO, +2.70% | 2.7% | -13.0% | 10.7% |
| Apple Inc. | AAPL, +2.55% | 2.6% | -9.4% | 86.2% |
| Procter & Gamble Co. | PG, +2.06% | 2.1% | -7.8% | 35.9% |
| Verizon Communications Inc. | VZ, +1.43% | 1.4% | -5.9% | 9.2% |
| Nike Inc. Class B | NKE, +1.35% | 1.4% | -15.8% | 36.6% |
| Home Depot Inc. | HD, +1.31% | 1.3% | -10.8% | 27.1% |
| McDonald’s Corp. | MCD, +1.08% | 1.1% | -10.2% | 11.3% |
| Microsoft Corp. | MSFT, +1.00% | 1.0% | 4.7% | 55.3% |
| Intel Corp. | INTC, +0.99% | 1.0% | -1.5% | 27.5% |
| Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc. | WBA, +0.65% | 0.7% | -26.9% | -13.7% |
| Walmart Inc. | WMT, -0.12% | -0.1% | 2.5% | 27.6% |
| Walt Disney Co. | DIS, -0.16% | -0.2% | -30.1% | 31.9% |
| Source: FactSet | ||||
Nasdaq
Here are Wednesday’s best 20 performers among the Nasdaq-100 Index NDX, +2.23% :
| Company | Ticker | Price change – April 8 | Price change – 2020 | Price change – 2019 |
| United Airlines Holdings Inc. | UAL, +12.37% | 12.4% | -68.8% | 5.2% |
| Marriott International Inc. Class A | MAR, +11.79% | 11.8% | -45.5% | 39.5% |
| American Airlines Group Inc. | AAL, +10.86% | 10.9% | -60.5% | -10.7% |
| NXP Semiconductors NV | NXPI, +8.66% | 8.7% | -28.0% | 73.7% |
| Microchip Technology Inc. | MCHP, +8.42% | 8.4% | -24.1% | 45.6% |
| Applied Materials Inc. | AMAT, +8.20% | 8.2% | -15.7% | 86.4% |
| Workday Inc. Class A | WDAY, +7.82% | 7.8% | -13.6% | 3.0% |
| Cognizant Technology Solutions Corp. Class A | CTSH, +7.51% | 7.5% | -17.1% | -2.3% |
| Expedia Group Inc. | EXPE, +7.14% | 7.1% | -44.0% | -4.0% |
| Autodesk Inc. | ADSK, +7.06% | 7.1% | -13.2% | 42.6% |
| Ulta Beauty Inc. | ULTA, +6.94% | 6.9% | -20.8% | 3.4% |
| Willis Towers Watson Public Ltd. | WLTW, +6.35% | 6.4% | -5.9% | 33.0% |
| Xcel Energy Inc. | XEL, +6.02% | 6.0% | -1.1% | 28.9% |
| Liberty Global PLC Class A | LBTYA, +5.85% | 5.9% | -19.7% | 6.6% |
| Western Digital Corp. | WDC, +5.78% | 5.8% | -28.6% | 71.7% |
| Align Technology Inc. | ALGN, +5.64% | 5.6% | -33.9% | 33.2% |
| Analog Devices Inc. | ADI, +5.35% | 5.4% | -14.7% | 38.5% |
| Sirius XM Holdings Inc. | SIRI, +5.29% | 5.3% | -27.7% | 25.2% |
| Biogen Inc. | BIIB, +5.22% | 5.2% | 6.8% | -1.4% |
| Exelon Corp. | EXC, +5.02% | 5.0% | -17.5% | 1.1% |
| Source: FactSet | ||||
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