Joe Biden’s Chances Of Taking The White House Increase Boosting Markets

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Commenting on the chances of Joe Biden to score a victory and today’s trading Gorilla Trades strategist Ken Berman said:

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Joe Biden's Chances Of Winning Increase

The major indices are all trading considerably higher at midday as stocks got a boost from a batch of encouraging U.S. economic numbers and a couple of positive COVID vaccine results. According to betting and prediction market trends, Joe Biden’s chances of taking the White House increased in the wake of yesterday’s debate, but global risk assets barely budged following the intense clash. Investors focused more on the improving U.S. economic outlook and the worrisome European COVID picture, which led to strong divergences between domestic and overseas assets.

The ADP payrolls number was much better-than-expected, despite the worrisome jobless claims reports that we got this month, which hints at another bullish government jobs report on Friday. The Chicago PMI also came in well above the consensus estimate, hitting a 20-month high of 62.4, and confirming the healthy trends in the manufacturing sector. Pending home sales also exploded higher, hitting a new record high, and lifting the real estate sector, which has been the top-performing sector of the past week thanks to the blockbuster sales reports.

Market Wrap

Dow: 27,912, + 498 or 1.7%

S&P 500: 3,377 + 41 or 1.2%

Nasdaq: 11,232, + 147 or 1.3%

Russell 2000: 1,521, + 17 or 1.1%

Market breadth has been relatively strong this morning, with advancing issues outnumbering decliners by a 3-to-1 ratio on the NYSE at midday. Only 12 stocks hit new 52-week lows on the NYSE and the Nasdaq, while 37 stocks hit new 52-week highs. The major indices have been trading above their daily VWAPs (Volume-Weighted Average Price) for most of the morning session, pointing to intraday buying pressure. Stocks staged a broad rally in early trading thanks to the positive economic headlines with the key cyclical sectors and consumer-related issues leading the way higher, and even though tech stocks and most defensive issues have been lagging the broader market, all sectors are in the green at midday. Stay tuned!