Wall Street Close: NASDAQ outpaces its comrades again

US benchmarks were mixed on Thursday, with the NASDAQ the sole survivor of growing pessimism surrounding the stark crisis that the US is facing pertaining to the coronavirus spread. 

Main moves

• S&P 500  -17.85 (-0.56%) to 3,152.09.
• Dow): -361.12 (-1.39%) to 25,706.16.
• Nasdaq: +55.25 (+0.53%) to 10,547.75.
• Crude: -$1.38 (-3.37%) to $39.52 a barrel.
• Gold: -$11.60 (-0.64%) to $1,809.00 per ounce.
• 10-year Treasury: -4.8 bps to yield 0.6050%.

The initial bid in NASDAQ came when shares of Amazon rose more than 1% to a fresh record high.

The NASDAQ scored another high for 7th time of the last 8 trading days while Apple, Facebook, A

Amazon, Microsoft all ended with record highs. By contrast, the Dow and S&P 500 wiped out their week to date gains.

The NASDAQ is now up 17.56% on the year.

Fauci says states with major outbreaks should ‘seriously look at shutting down’ again

Meanwhile, the coronavirus situation worsened further on Thursday with the state of Florida reporting a record 120 deaths, adding to the three million cases in the US reported earlier in the week which is more than 25% of the global total. 

California also reported its largest one-day jump in new virus deaths as of Thursday at 149.

Anthony S. Fauci, the nation’s top infectious-disease official, is advising that some states seriously consider “shutting down” again if they are facing major resurgences of the virus — a warning that conflicts with President Trump’s push to reopen the country as quickly as possible, The Washington Post reported. 

Fauci added Thursday that he hopes there’s not a need for new shutdowns, saying it “would not be viewed very, very favourably,” and urged states to pause their reopening process to slow the spread of the virus so that renewed shutdowns are not necessary.