Stocks – Wall Street Ticks up as Reopening Narrative Regains Upper Hand

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Investing.com — U.S. stock markets turned around in early trade Monday to trade modestly higher, after falling at the open on a lack of reassurance over fiscal stimulus from White House economic advisor Larry Kudlow.

Kudlow told CNBC that “nothing has been decided yet” about the size of the next coronavirus relief package. Analysts have warned that the economy faces a severe blow if support payments that are scheduled to end in July aren’t extended in one form or other. Kudlow’s comments took the gloss off a day marked by optimism at the further reopening of New York City’s economy. 

Also weighing on sentiment was the awareness of rising numbers of new coronavirus infections in some of the country’s largest states, including California, Texas and Florida, as well as announcement of a dilutive capital raising exercise by American Airlines (NASDAQ:AAL), which said it wanted to raise up to $1.5 billion in stock and convertible notes.  The stock fell 4.6%.

By 10:10 AM ET (1410 GMT), the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 69 points or 0.3% at 25,938 points, while the S&P 500 was also up 0.3% and the Nasdaq Composite was up 0.4%.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) stock outperformed, rising 1.5% ahead of the start of its annual Worldwide Developers Conference later in the day. The iPhone maker is widely expected to announce a move to make its own chips for the next generation of Mac computers, in what would represent a break from its current supplier Intel (NASDAQ:INTC). Intel stock was down 0.4%. Apple’s conference also comes less than a week after the European Union opened two new antitrust investigations against the company for possible abuse of its App Store. 

Apple’s decision to temporarily close some stores in coronavirus hotspots in the U.S. had been a major factor in the market’s turnaround late on Friday. However, the mood had largely bucked up again by Monday, as New York reopened much of its retail sector, including cafes, restaurants and hair salons. There were also upbeat statements on reopening from Walt Disney (NYSE:DIS), which said it will reopen its Disneyland Paris theme park on July 15th, and from Bed Bath & Beyond (NASDAQ:BBBY), which said it expected to have 95% of its stores open by the weekend.  

Elsewhere, Virgin Galactic (NYSE:SPCE) stock rose 14% after announcing an agreement with NASA that will allow it to train astronauts for trips to the International Space Station. Meanwhile Gap (NYSE:GPS) stock rose 8.1% after the apparel retailer got a two-notch upgrade from Wells Fargo (NYSE:WFC) analysts, from ‘underweight’ to ‘overweight’.

Oil and gas stocks as Crude prices drifted lower amid concerns that states may have to reintroduce demand-killing lockdown measures if the current rate of new infections persists. Marathon Oil (NYSE:MRO) underperformed, losing 1.5% after a downgrade from Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS).