Wall Street Close: Wall Street's bulls taking on the gap, target all time highs

US benchmarks ended the session higher on Wednesday and in the case of the S&P 500, it is on course to fill in the gap.

Stocks were choppy on the back of mixed earnings, US stimulus debates, US violent protests, the spread of the virus vs the hopes of a vaccine and expectations of higher inflation. 

The major stock indexes oscillated for much of the day but the three major indexes ended in the green.

The Nasdaq had the smallest gain, capped by a drop in Amazon.com shares. The index added 25.76 points, or 0.24%, to 10,706.13. The S&P 500 SPX gained 18.78 points, or 0.58%, to 3,276.08. The Dow Jones Industrial Average DJI rose 165.26 points, or 0.62%, to 27,005.66.

Tesla earnings

• Tesla reported its first full year of GAAP profits, along with second-quarter results Wednesday.
• During the period ending June 30, 2020, Elon Musk’s electric car company grappled with the effects of a Covid-19 pandemic on its U.S. employees and factory operations, especially.
• Tesla said its revenue reached $6.04 billion during the quarter.

S&P 500 movers

• S&P 500 top movers: HCA soars after company reports nearly 38% increase in Q2 profit

US death toll to nearly 142,000

As for the virus, the latest figures showed more than 1,000 deaths in the United States from COVID-1 on Tuesday, bringing the total death toll to nearly 142,000. Experts warned that numbers will rise further due to a surge in new infections.

Congressional Democrats and Republicans remained divided on the details of a new stimulus package expected to cost $1 trillion or more, less than two weeks before extended benefits are due to expire for millions of unemployed Americans. 

On the economic front, US housing sales continued to recover. They arrived up 20.7% MoM in June to USD4.72m. Sales are still about 20% below pre-COVID levels.

Forex Today

• Forex Today: Dollar’s decline continued on US-Sino tensions, coronavirus

The dollar continued to shed ground against most of its major rivals, but the JPY, reaching fresh multi-month lows across the board. The greenback decoupled from equities, with Asian and European indexes down and US ones mixed on the day.  The decline seems a continuation on Tuesday’s unidirectional movement.

Commodity watch

The inflation playbook and technical breakout are sending gold price on a rampage.

Bulls are targeting all-time highs with a 1:2 risk to reward ration at current market levels, stop below bullish reverse head and shoulder's structure:

• Gold Price Analysis: Bulls break out of reverse hourly head & shoulders to fresh highs of $1870

SP 500 levels