Wall Street mixed at midday, Dow pops nearly 300 points to open May

12:15pm: Verizon shares rise after $5 billion media group sale

The Dow jumped 286 points, 0.8%, to 34,161 at midday on the first trading day of May. The Nasdaq, meanwhile, slipped 45 points, 0.3%, to 13,918, and the S&P 500 added 16 points, 0.4%, to 4,197.

Verizon Communications Inc (NYSE:VZ) shares improved 0.9% to $58.28 after the company announced its intention to sell its media group, including brands from AOL and Yahoo, to Apollo Global Management for $5 billion.

9:30am: Wall Street jumps as US firms rebound 

US stocks opened higher with the three major indexes kicking off May on a positive note fueled by optimism that US companies are rebounding from the pandemic.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average advanced 261 points, or 0.8%, to 34,136, while the S&P 500 were up 21 points, or 0.5%, to 4,202. The tech-dominated Nasdaq Composite rose 26 points, or 0.2%, to 13,989.

7:30am: Wall Street set for higher open

US stock futures pointed higher Monday ahead of another packed schedule of corporate earnings, the latest monthly jobs report from the Labor Department, alongside manufacturing data that could offer fresh insights into the pace of the global economic recovery.

Futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average implied an opening gain of about 210 points, or 0.62%. S&P 500 futures and the Nasdaq futures also traded in positive territory.

The April jobs report will likely be the latest positive data point underscoring the US economic recovery. According to Bloomberg data, consensus economists expect to see that non-farm payrolls grew by 978,000 for the month, accelerating from March’s gain of 916,000 and representing the biggest rise since August 2020.

Meanwhile, markets have mostly climbed in recent weeks as investors remain optimistic that the pandemic is slowly and steadily coming to a close, at least in the United States. However, the global recovery from the pandemic remains uneven. In much of Asia and many other countries, coronavirus caseloads have surged while vaccination levels remain low.

“There is a thin balance between all the positives such as earnings momentum, the reopening, the rollout of vaccines and some limiting factors like [high] valuations and inflation perspectives,” said Luc Filip, head of private banking investments at SYZ Private Banking. “The market will balance between all these positives and negatives, but we believe the positives will outweigh the negatives.”

Two things to watch out for on Monday:

• Two gauges of the health of the US manufacturing sector in April are slated for 9.45am ET and 10am.
• Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell is scheduled to speak at 2:20 p.m. at a virtual conference

Story by ProactiveInvestors