The Nasdaq-100 index rose to a record high on Thursday, becoming the first major U.S. stock index to fully erase its losses from the coronavirus pandemic sell-off.
The index, which is made up of the 100-largest nonfinancial stocks in the Nasdaq Composite, traded 0.3% higher. Shares of eBay and United Airlines were among the best performers in the Nasdaq 100, gaining 6.2% and 4.1%, respectively.
From Feb. 19 to March 23, the Nasdaq-100 plummeted more than 30%. Since then, however, the index has skyrocketed more than 43%. Traders follow the Nasdaq-100 as it’s the benchmark for the Invesco QQQ Trust ETF, which was up by 0.2% and is often among the top-traded securities on a daily basis.
Amazon, PepsiCo, Costco and PayPal are among the stocks that drove the Nasdaq-100 back to record highs from its late-March low. Amazon shares have rallied more than 30% since March 23 while PepsiCo is up 26%. Costco has gained over 8% in that time and PayPal is up more than 85%.
Other major indexes — including the Dow Jones Industrial Average, S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite — hovered along the flatline on Thursday amid disappointing economic data and surprise stimulus from the European Central Bank.
The 30-stock Dow was down just 9 points, or less than 0.1%, while the S&P 500 slid 0.1%. The Nasdaq Composite traded higher by 0.1%. Both the Dow and S&P 500 were at least 8% below their February record highs, while the Nasdaq traded less than 1.5% below its all-time high.
The Labor Department said 1.877 million Americans filed for unemployment benefits last week, topping a Dow Jones estimate of 1.775 million. Continuing jobless claims rose sharply, nearly reaching 21.5 million. The data was released a day ahead of the department’s monthly jobs report.
Wall Street came into Thursday’s session riding strong gains through the first three days of June as investors were hopeful the economy will recover from the coronavirus-induced slowdown. Through the month’s first three sessions, the Dow was up nearly 3.5% while the S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 were both up at least 2%.
“May could well end up being the turning point for the viral crisis. The month ended with the virus seemingly under control and with the economy reopening faster than expected,” wrote Brad McMillan, chief investment officer at Commonwealth Financial Network. “June will tell us whether that trend continues. But right now? Things look much better than we could have expected a month ago.”
Shares of companies that benefit from the economy recovering outperformed on Thursday. American Airlines rallied more than 14%. JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup, Wells Fargo and Bank of America advanced more than 1% each. MGM Resorts gained 2.2%.
Central banks and governments around the world have taken measures to cushion the economic blow from the coronavirus pandemic, making riskier assets such as equities more attractive to investors.
On Thursday, the European Central Bank said it will increase its Pandemic Emergency Purchase Programme by 600 billion euro, bringing the program’s total to more than 1 trillion euro.
The market is “focusing on signs that a reopening recovery—juiced by federal spending and monetary easing—is taking hold,” said Ed Yardeni, president and chief investment strategist at Yardeni Research. “The market is treating the recent calamity as if it were a natural disaster rather than a severe recession.”
Since March 23, the S&P 500 has surged more than 42% while the Dow has gained over 43% in that time period. The Nasdaq Composite is up more than 46% since hitting its late-March low.
“The market is trading on extreme optimism like I’ve never seen in my career,” said Phil Blancato, CEO of Ladenburg Thalmann Asset Management. “I’ve never seen the market trade on this kind of euphoria without real data to back it up.”
“We’re looking at the worst data in our lifetime. Yet, here we are at all-time highs,” Blancato added. “Those two don’t normally go together. The market either knows something we don’t or we’re trading on extreme optimism.”
—CNBC’s Gina Francolla contributed reporting.
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