Stocks rose on Wednesday, as many companies hit a record high. The Dow Jones rose by 1.67%, while the S&P 500 climbed up by 1.67%, and the NASDAQ gained 2.08%. All the major indexes have gained over 3% for this week so far.
Lowe’s released a sales report showing that their sales had increased by 11.2% during the first quarter of 
2020. Shares were up by 0.4% Wednesday. The CEO of Lowe’s, Marvin Ellison, stated that he expects sales for the remainder of the year to slow down, however, he does not anticipate any losses. Target also showed a sales increase of 10.8% this quarter.
Earlier today, President Donald Trump tweeted: “Some wacko in China just released a statement blaming everybody other than China for the Virus which has now killed hundreds of thousands of people. Please explain to this dope that it was the ‘incompetence of China’, and nothing else, that did this mass Worldwide killing!” Later, the Senate passed a bill allowing for increased oversight of Chinese companies. Some Chinese companies are now also banned from trading on U.S. exchanges. This caused Alibaba, Baidu, and JD.com to fall in value.
Some wacko in China just released a statement blaming everybody other than China for the Virus which has now killed hundreds of thousands of people. Please explain to this dope that it was the “incompetence of China”, and nothing else, that did this mass Worldwide killing!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 20, 2020
Some major technology companies saw increases on Wednesday. Facebook’s shares rose by over 5% to hit a record high. Amazon also hit a record high, after shares rose by 1.6%.
Entertainment companies also saw increases on Wednesday. Disney rose by 3%, SeaWorld Entertainment increased by 9%, and Comcast rose by 2%. The theme parks are soon to present their plans to re-open in Orange County, Florida. These plans have to be approved by the Governor of Florida, Ron DeSantis before they can proceed.
Oil continues to rise as the demand increases across the country. West Texas Intermediate rose by 4.79% to its current total of $33.49 per barrel. Brent Crude rose by $1.10 to its current price of $35.75 per barrel. There is data released by the U.S. Energy Information Administration that shows the inventory of oil decreased last week by 5 million barrels.
The Federal Open Market Committee’s minutes from its latest meeting were released Wednesday. These minutes showed that the interest rate would remain between the range of 0$ to 0.25% until the economy is completely stabilized again.
Several companies released quarterly earnings for the first few months of 2020. Analog Devices, a semiconductor company had earnings that exceeded the expectations of Wall Street. The company’s earnings per share were $1.08, compared to the expected $1.03. Share prices rose by 8%.
Western Digital, a data storage company also saw increases today. The company is expecting increased usage this year as many companies move to work from home setups. Share prices rose by 5%.
Urban Outfitters saw a price decrease today. Shares fell by almost 9% as the sales report for the retailer was much lower than expected. The company also released that they are expecting a further 60% decline in sales for the second quarter of the year.
Leave a Reply