Wall Street Swings Wildly Amid Lingering Covid Concerns

(C) Reuters.

By Yasin Ebrahim

Investing.com – Wall Street swung between gains and losses on Friday, as investors continued to weigh the economic impact of a potential second wave of Covid-19 infections.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.90%, or 225 points, though had been up over 500 points intraday. The S&P 500 rose 0.44%, while the Nasdaq Composite rose 0.18%.

Investors swooped in to buy beaten-down stocks tied to the progress of the economy, with financials rising sharply intraday before easing slightly from session highs.

JPMorgan (NYSE:JPM) rose 2%, Bank of America(NYSE:BAC) was up 2.6%, and Citigroup (NYSE:C) jumped 6%.

Energy also put up gains, though the sector remains on track to close sharply lower amid growing doubts over crude demand in the wake of rising coronavirus infections that threaten to slow the pace of the reopenings across states.

Occidental Petroleum (NYSE:OXY) was up 5%, Apache (NYSE:APA) rose 4.7%, and Marathon Oil (NYSE:MRO) climbed 4.5%.

In tech, FAANG stocks were mostly higher, with the exception of Netflix (NASDAQ:NFLX) and Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN).

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT), meanwhile, faced criticism for refusing to sell facial recognition technology to police departments.

On the earnings front, investors digested mixed quarterly reports.

Adobe (NASDAQ:ADBE) rose 4% a day after reporting second-quarter earnings that topped Wall Street estimates on both the top and bottom lines.

“Adobe delivered strong results, which was led by robust Digital Media ARR which crushed Street expectations despite the uncertain COVID-19 backdrop,” Wedbush said as it upped its price target on the stock to $410 from $315.

Lululemon Athletica (NASDAQ:LULU), meanwhile, reported revenue and earnings per share that fell short of estimates, sending its share price down more than 4%.

In other news, Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) fell 4% after Morgan Stanley downgraded its stock to underweight from equal-weight, citing a slew of risks ahead including the uncertain near-term demand and U.S.-China trade tensions.