Intraday, the S&P 500 jumped above its highest-ever closing level, meaning it took just 175 days for the index to go from peak to trough to peak, according to Bloomberg. The benchmark index has risen about 50% since bottoming in March, Bloomberg also noted. The final push to put the S&P back at a record high came a day after Joe Biden selected Kamala Harris to be his running mate as Democrats seek to push the Trump/Pence tandem out of the White House and as fellow Dems Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer said they have "made clear to the Administration that we are willing to resume negotiations once they start to take this process seriously."
ECONOMIC EVENTS: In the U.S., the Consumer Price Index rose 0.6% in July on both the headline and core, beating expectations a day after the PPI also pointed to hotter than expected inflation.
Meanwhile, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer released a joint statement after Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin "reiterated the Administration's refusal to budge on their position on the size and scope of the next COVID-19 legislative response package." "Repeatedly, we have made clear to the Administration that we are willing to come down $1 trillion if they will come up $1 trillion," the statement reads. "However, it is clear that the Administration still does not grasp the magnitude of the problems that American families are facing. We have again made clear to the Administration that we are willing to resume negotiations once they start to take this process seriously. The lives and livelihoods of the American people as well as the life of our democracy are at stake."
TOP NEWS: Moderna (MRNA) shares finished the day fractionally higher, though well off their early session highs, after the company announced last night that the U.S. government secured 100M doses of its COVID-19 vaccine candidate mRNA-1273 as part of the U.S. government's goal of securing early access to safe and effective COVID-19 vaccines for the American people. The award of up to $1.525B is for the manufacturing and delivery of 100M doses of mRNA-1273 including incentive payments for timely delivery of the product.
Shares of Tesla (TSLA) jumped 13.1% after the electric car maker announced a 5-for-1 stock split in the form of a stock dividend "to make stock ownership more accessible to employees and investors."
The Wall Street Journal reported that Goldman Sachs (GS) is among "a small number of bidders" for General Motors' (GM) credit card business, which has roughly $3B in outstanding balances. Barclays (BCS) is also in the running, though there is no guarantee that GM will choose to replace its current card issuer, Capital One Financial (COF), according to the Journal.
Meanwhile, Uber (UBER) CEO Dara Khosrowshahi told MSNBC that the company would likely shut down temporarily in California if a court does not overturn a recent ruling requiring it to classify its drivers as full-time employees.
Additionally, National Amusements, the parent company of ViacomCBS (VIAC), announced the passing of chairman Sumner Redstone.
MAJOR MOVERS: Among the noteworthy gainers was GrubHub (GRUB), which rose 4.8% after merger partner Just Eat Takeaway reported first half results. Also higher were Cornerstone Building Brands (CNR) and Brinker (EAT), which each gained 17.1% and 14.5%, respectively, after reporting quarterly results.
Among the notable losers was Super Micro Computer (SMCI), which slid 14.7% after it reported quarterly results, provided guidance for the next quarter, and authorized a $30M stock buyback. Also lower after reporting quarterly results were OneSpan (OSPN) and K12 (LRN), which fell 39.6% and 4.3%, respectively.
INDEXES: The Dow rose 289.93, or 1.05%, to 27,976.84, the Nasdaq gained 229.42, or 2.13%, to 11,012.24, and the S&P 500 advanced 46.66, or 1.4%, to 3,380.35.
