Stocks looked headed for a down day last night after White House trade adviser Peter Navarro told Fox News "it's over" in an interview when asked about the China trade agreement. However, following the interview, Navarro said his comments were taken "wildly out of context" while President Donald Trump tweeted that the "China Trade Deal is fully intact." Those reassurances, along with encouraging PMI data from Europe and the U.S., turned around the market and prompted an extension of the recent strength despite the continued surge of coronavirus cases in states that have become the new virus hot spots, such as Texas, Florida and Arizona.
ECONOMIC EVENTS: In U.S. data, Markit's manufacturing index popped 9.8 points higher to 49.6 in the flash June reading. The flash services reading rose 9.2 points to 46.7. While both are in contraction territory, they are nevertheless the highest readings since February. New home sales beat estimates in May with a 16.6% surge to a 676,000 home rate. The Richmond Fed index climbed back to unchanged in June from -27 in May.
In COVID-19 news, Texas reported 114,881 COVID-19 cases and 2,192 deaths as of June 22, while Florida reported a 3.3% increase in cases from yesterday. Additionally, California reported 183,073 cases of the virus versus 178,054 yesterday, and Arizona reported 58,179 cases, up 3,591 from the previous day. Meanwhile, in New York, which was previously viewed as the epicenter of the coronavirus in the U.S., Governor Andrew Cuomo said that he is "seriously considering quarantine" for out of state visitors.
TOP NEWS: Shares of Apple (AAPL) rose 2.1% a day after the company unveiled a new iPad OS, iOS, and Apple Watch OS, as well as macOS Big Sur with a Safari browser update during its annual Worldwide Developers Conference that took place online-only. Apple CEO Tim Cook also confirmed that Mac computers will be transitioning away from Intel (INTC) processors to instead use Apple's own silicon chips.
Bloomberg's David McLaughlin reported that the Justice Department, led by Attorney General William Barr, is preparing to file an antitrust lawsuit against Google (GOOG). The report noted that such a suit would be a win for Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. (NWSA), which publishes the Wall Street Journal and the Times of London, among other papers. Afterward, The Wall Street Journal said that the DoJ and state AGs are set to meet Friday to discuss the next steps in bringing an antitrust case against the search giant.
In M&A news, Mastercard (MA) announced an agreement to acquire Finicity, a North American provider of real-time access to financial data and insights. Mastercard said the purchase price is $825M and Finicity's existing shareholders have the potential for an earn-out of up to an additional $160M if performance targets are met. Following the deal announcement, Wells Fargo analyst Donald Fandetti said he believes the acquisition of Finicity will enable MasterCard to provide open banking capabilities in the U.S., building on its progress in regions such as Europe.
MAJOR MOVERS: Among the noteworthy gainers was Translate Bio (TBIO), which rose 47% after it expanded its collaboration with Sanofi Pasteur (SNY) to develop mRNA vaccines. Also higher was Inovio Pharmaceuticals (INO), which gained 41% after receiving $71M in funding from the U.S. Department of Defense for CELLECTRA devices.
Among the notable losers was Luckin Coffee (LK), which slid 12.3% after the company received a delisting notice from Nasdaq. Also lower was Spirit AeroSystems (SPR), which fell 13.3% after it said in a regulatory filing that Boeing (BA) directed it to reduce its 2020 737 production plan.
INDEXES: The Dow rose 131.14, or 0.5%, to 26,156.10, the Nasdaq gained 74.89, or 0.74%, to 10,131.37, and the S&P 500 advanced 13.43, or 0.43%, to 3,131.29.
