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Dow Jones Today, Stocks Ease Amid Mixed Global Trade; FDA Approves Quidel, Tesla Restart Uncertain

Stocks posted early losses Monday, following declines across European markets, as the Nasdaq notched its first open above the 9,000 level since early March. Coronavirus stock Quidel (QDEL) spiked on FDA news. China-based names Tencent Holdings (JD) and Alibaba Group (BABA) showed early strength. Intel (INTC) led the Dow Jones today, as the White House looked to strengthen U.S. chip supply chain.

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The Dow backed off 0.8% shortly after the starting bell, as American Express (AXP), Boeing (BA), JPMorgan (JPM) and Raytheon (DOW) all clocked losses of around 3%. Intel jumped 1.6% to lead the index.

The S&P 500 shed 0.6%, and the Nasdaq trimted its early decline to trade flat on the stock market today. A powerful advance on Friday underscored the market's "confirmed uptrend" status, as the forward-looking stock market blew past the worst monthly payrolls report in U.S. history.

IBD 50 stock Zoom Video Communications (ZM) popped 5.5%, putting it atop the Nasdaq 100.  Dexcom (DXCM), an IBD Leaderboard name, was number two on the Nasdaq, up 2.8%. Tesla (TSLA) fell 3.8% on uncertainties regarding production at its Fremont, Calif. plant.

Cosmetics leader Coty (COTY) and drug distributor Cardinal Health (CAH) climbed 6.4% and 5.3%, respectively, on earnings — leading the S&P 500. Under Armour (UAA) collapsed to the bottom of the list, down 11% on a first-quarter earnings miss.

China-based e-retail giant Tencent Holdings jumped 2.4% in premarket trade. JD.com (JD) rose 0.7% ahead of its first-quarter report, due out early Friday. JD.com stock jumped 13% last week, ending extended on a rebound from its 10-week moving average. Alibaba Group Holdings added 1.4%, moving toward its fourth-quarter report on Wednesday.

Gear up for the week's market action by reading IBD's Investing Action Plan.

IBD 50 Stocks: Quidel Antigen Test Approved

IBD 50 stock Quidel erupted in a 23% gain. The Food and Drug Administration late Friday conferred emergency use authorization for the San Diego-based biotech's test for coronavirus antigens. Quidel current has around 40,000 of its Sofia test machines in doctors' offices, clinics and hospitals. The company has said it would be able to produce 200,000 testing kits for those machines right away, and 1.5 million a week in the coming weeks.

Quidel shares broke out above a 3-weeks tight pattern with a 106.66 buy point on April 16. The stock rose more than 20% in two weeks, triggering the eight-week hold rule. The stock closed on Friday 49% above the buy point.

At the bottom of the IBD 50 list, Trade Desk (TTD) dropped 3.6% after D.A. Davidson downgraded the stock to neutral. Among other leading stocks, Datadog (DDOG) and Tilray (TLRY) were scheduled to report after Monday's close.

Dow Jones Today: Intel

Chip giant Intel managed a 1.6% gain on the Dow Jones today, on news that the White House had contacted Intel and Taiwan Semiconductor (TSM), exploring plans to increase U.S. domestic chip production. Intel Chief Executive Greg Slater told the Wall Street Journal the company was planning a U.S. facility that could provide advanced chips securely to both government and private entities.

Monday gains lifted Intel stock to within 3% of a 62.23 buy point in a cup-with-handle base.

Nasdaq Rallies: Six Leaders Near Buy Points

The Nasdaq last week soared 6%, in a five-day rally capped off by a powerful 1.6% gain on Friday. The S&P 500 added 3.5% for the week, while the Dow the managed only a 2.6% gain last week. Small caps continued their recovery, with the Russell 2000 jumping 5.5% in its third straight weekly advance.

While the Dow is lagging, it still shows strengthening technical indicators. Dow Jones names including Apple (AAPL), Microsoft (MSFT), Intel, Pfizer (PFE) and Home Depot are just above or approaching buy points.


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Powerful breakaway gap breakouts last week by Chegg (CHGG) and MercadoLibre (MELI), as well as other breakouts by Datadog, ServiceNow (NOW) and others help confirm market momentum.

Stocks that are below buy points and worth looking into at the start of the week include Cirrus Logic (CRUS), Power Integrations (POWI), KLA (KLAC) and IBD Leaderboard listing Lululemon Athletica (LULU).

Coronavirus Update: Death Rate Slows, Testing Increases

Worldwide, more than 66,000 new cases of coronavirus infections were confirmed in the 24 hours to Monday morning. That lifted the cumulative total for cases above 4.197 million, according to Worldometer data, but the growth rate for new cases dropped to 1.6%, well below recent levels. Data showed more than 3,000 additional deaths, a 1.1% rise.

New cases reported by European Economic Area countries increased by 9,788, according to the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control. That decreased Europe's share of the global total to 30%, down from 33% at the start of last week, and from more than 44% at the start of April. Another 1,139 deaths raised the region's total to above 146,700, a 0.8% increase. EEA countries have accounted for 52% of the total deaths from the virus worldwide.

Almost 20,000 new cases in the U.S. lifted the cumulative total 1.5% to above 1.367 million. The rate of deaths slowed for the day, up less than 1%, but still adding 731 new names to a death count that was nearing 81,000. Testing continued to increase, with states ro;ling out more than 277,000 tests on Sunday. That lifted the 10-day average above 250,000 for the first time.

Coronavirus News: States Reopening

Thirty states have moved into gradual processes of reopening. Some of those still have stay-at-home orders in place, but are allowing a wider definition for businesses permitted to operate. At the end of the day Friday, 19 states still had stay-at-home orders in place, while 22 states reported partial lockdowns.

Montana, Georgia and South Carolina had declared themselves reopened. States that had never issued stay-at-home orders included Arkansas, Iowa, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota, Oklahoma, Utah, and Wyoming.

As of Sunday, New York and New Jersey had managed to slow their growth of new confirmed cases to less than 2% per day. Other states, such as Illinois, Virginia, Maryland and North Carolina, were seeing new cases increase at rates around 4%. Minnesota's new cases are increasing at a 9% clip.

Deaths in New York are increasing less than 2% on a daily basis, and up more than 3% a day in New Jersey. Illinois, Indiana, Maryland and Ohio are among the states in which deaths are rising more than 4% per day. In Pennsylvania and Alabama, the death rates are above 7%.

Global Markets Mixed, Oil Prices Slip

Global trade was uneven, with markets in Tokyo and Hong Kong rallying more than 1%, while the Shanghai Composite ended its session with mild losses. European markets also moved lower, led by the CAC-40 in France, which traded down 1.3% just past midday.


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Oil prices reversed early losses, with West Texas Intermediate up 2.1% to above $25. Oil prices rose 25.1% in a second straight rebound last week, but remain down more than 63% from a January high.

Dow Jones Today: Reaching For 25,000

A strong session Friday left the Dow with a 2.6% gain for the week, turning around two weeks of declines.  The Dow Jones today opens 5% above its 50-day moving average, its most comfortable margin above that level of support since July. The index is now 2.7% below the 25,000 level, which it has not traded above since early March, and which could potentially provide some upward resistance.


For more detailed analysis of the current stock market and its status, study the Big Picture.


The bigger retake will be the index's 200-day moving average, which sits 8% above where the Dow finished on Friday.

Three Dow stocks have yet to report their March-quarter results. Cisco Systems (CSCO) reports after Wednesday's close. Analysts expect the computer networking giant's revenue to fall 8% to $11.88 billion, with earnings falling 9% to 71 cents a share from a year earlier

Home Depot (HD) and Walmart (WMT) are due to report May 19. Home Depot stock is rising toward the top of a buy range that runs to 235.54.

Find Alan R. Elliott on Twitter @IBD_Aelliott

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