The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at 28,494.20 on Thursday with a loss of 19.80 points or -0.07%. The S&P 500 closed at 3,483.34 for a loss of 5.33 points or -0.15%. The Nasdaq Composite closed at 11,713.87 for a loss of 54.86 points or -0.47%. The VIX Volatility Index was higher at 26.95 with a gain of 0.55 points or 2.08%.

Thursday's market movers

The major U.S. indexes closed lower for a third day. Investors were watching coronavirus cases and resurgence reports with fears of a second wave affecting the economy. Nearly half of U.S. states reported more than

The following is an excerpt from our recent client letter.

A year ago, I called the stock market mood "partying like it's 1999." I was off by a year. Last year was missing the necessary euphoric speculation, which ironically arrived in the middle of a pandemic that engulfed the world.

Just as history doesn't repeat itself but rhymes, so does stock market behavior. Though there are a lot of similarities between 1999 and 2020, there are differences, too.

In 1999 the market was flooded with dotcoms, "new economy" companies that traded at astronomical valuations, were losing money, and had unproven

The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at 27,147.70 on Monday with a loss of 509.72 points or -1.84%. The S&P 500 closed at 3,281.06 for a loss of 38.41 points or -1.16%. The Nasdaq Composite closed at 10,778.80 for a loss of 14.48 points or -0.13%. The VIX Volatility Index was higher at 27.78 for a gain of 1.95 points or 7.55%.

Monday's Market Movers

U.S. indexes ended lower Monday, following other global markets. U.S. stocks showed some steep losses after also falling in the three previous days of trading.

Last week's catalysts included a prolonged interest rate environment from

The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at 27,657.42 on Friday with a loss of 244.56 points or -0.88%. The S&P 500 closed at 3,319.47 for a loss of 37.54 points or -1.12%. The Nasdaq Composite closed at 10,793.28 for a loss of 116.99 points or -1.07%. The VIX Volatility Index was lower at 25.83 for a loss of 0.63 points or -2.38%.

For the week, the S&P 500 was down 0.7%, the Nasdaq was down 0.6% and the Dow Jones had a return of 0.1%. For the year, the Nasdaq is up 20.29%, the S&P 500 is up 2.74% and

Oracle Corp. (ORCL) released its first-quarter results for fiscal 2021 after the market closed on Sept. 10. The software company posted strong results, surpassing earnings and revenue expectations on the back of robust growth in the cloud business.

By the numbers

The database giant registered adjusted earnings per share of 93 cents, which edged past analysts' expectations of 86 cents. Revenue of $9.37 billion grew 2% on a year-over-year basis and surpassed projections of $9.19 billion.

Reflecting on the company's performance, CEO Safra Catz said:

"Q1 was fantastic with total revenue beating guidance by more than $150 million, and

US Markets

U.S. stocks were in the green on Friday morning after yesterday´s decline. The U.S. government reported that the consumer price index rose 0.4% in August, less than the increases of 0.6% registered in June and July. The Dow gained 0.25% to 27,604, the S&P 500 index rose 0.09% to 3,342 and the Nasdaq Composite Index was up 0.01%, to 10,917.

Gainers

• Laureate Education, Inc. (LAUR) +13.6%

• Peloton Interactive, Inc. (PTON) +6.9%

• Zoom Video Communications, Inc. (ZM) +3.5%

• Moderna, Inc. (MRNA) +2.2%

Losers

• Nikola Corporation (NKLA) -8.8%

• Darden Restaurants, Inc. (DRI) -3.1%

The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at 27,940.47 on Wednesday with a gain of 439.58 points or 1.60%. The S&P 500 closed at 3,398.96 for a gain of 67.12 points or 2.01%. The Nasdaq Composite closed at 11,141.56 for a gain of 293.87 points or 2.71%. The VIX Volatility Index was lower at 28.81 for a loss of 2.65 points or -8.42%.

Wednesday's Market Movers

U.S. indexes rebounded Wednesday after a three-day selloff that left the Nasdaq down around -10%. Technology led gains for the day. The PHLX Semiconductor Index gained 2.72%.

Across the board, the following stocks led gains:

The current market environment presents a unique challenge for investors. It is unlike anything we've ever seen before.

Many of the world's largest economies experienced their biggest economic contraction on record during the second quarter of 2020. However, despite this, the stock market has just printed a new all-time high. The rally is being driven by tech stocks, which have surged in value this year.

Buying tech stocks

To some extent, it's clear why investors have rushed to buy tech stocks in 2020. The coronavirus pandemic has forced millions of people out of their offices, and the demand for remote

The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at 28,645.66 on Tuesday with a gain of 215.61 points or 0.76%. The S&P 500 closed at 35,26.65 for a gain of 26.34 points or 0.75%. The Nasdaq Composite closed at 11,939.67 for a gain of 164.21 points or 1.39%. The VIX Volatility Index was lower at 26.27 for a loss of 0.14 points or -0.53%.

Tuesday's Market Movers

U.S. indexes closed higher Tuesday to start the new month. The Nasdaq Composite led the major indexes with a gain of 1.39%. Within technology, semiconductors were a strong contributor along with the Nasdaq 100 large

On Tuesday, Warren Buffett (Trades, Portfolio)'s favorite market indicator stood at 186.2%, up 11.1% from the revised value of 175.1% on Aug. 5.

The Buffett Indicator captures the ratio of the Wilshire 5000 full-cap index to U.S. gross domestic product. Although the total market cap level stood at $36.134 trillion, gross domestic product of approximately $19.41 trillion declined at an annual rate of 31.7% according to second estimates from the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis.

Markets zoom to new record closes on August rally

The Dow Jones

US Markets

U.S. stocks were in the green on Tuesday morning after closing with the best August returns in more than three decades. The Dow gained 55 points to 28,486, the S&P 500 index gained 0.32% to 3,511 and the Nasdaq Composite Index was up 1.00% to 11,893.

Gainers

• Paycom Software Inc (PAYC) +2.7%

• Walmart Inc (WMT) +5.7%

• Westrock Co (WRK) +3.4%

• FedEx Corp (FDX) +1.5%

• ServiceNow Inc (NOW) +1.9%

• Best Buy Co Inc (BBY) +1.95%

Losers

• Kellogg Co (K) -2.3%

• Cabot Oil & Gas Corp (COG) -2.2%

• Baker Hughes

Coatue Management, the firm founded by Philippe Laffont (Trades, Portfolio), disclosed last week that its top five buys for the second quarter were in Agora Inc. (API), The Walt Disney Co. (DIS), PayPal Holdings Inc. (PYPL), Boeing Co. (BA) and Zoom Video Communications Inc. (ZM).

A former mentee of Tiger Management founder Julian Robertson (Trades, Portfolio), Laffont started his New York-based firm in 1999, focusing primarily on the technology and consumer cyclical sectors. As of the quarter-end, the two sectors occupy 29.84% and 16.33% of Coatue's $11.37 billion equity portfolio. Despite this, communication services

There are signs that the post-lockdown stock market rally may be running out of steam, with major equity indexes like the S&P 500 failing to breach the highs set last week. To be sure, this might prove to be a temporary halt to this new bull market; however, there are a few reasons to be skeptical of future gains.

For one thing, the ongoing political battle between the Trump administration and Democrats over the reopening of businesses and schools may be introducing doubts for investors hopeful of a V-shaped recovery in the real economy. Furthermore, the commanding

Key Takeaways

• While current stimulus measures have proved to be an analgesic for economies and markets suffering from the impact of Covid-19, it’s hard to believe that the imbalances built up over a 10-year-plus expansion could be corrected within a single quarter.
• We think the fight against Covid-19 is the key issue investors need to consider at this point. Though financial markets are acting as if the pandemic’s impact has reached an inflection point, epidemiological data would suggest otherwise. The emergence of Covid-19 has produced the greatest blow to demand in a generation, and permanent economic scarring seems likely.

Tech growth investors may be interested in the following stocks as they have grown their quarterly revenue and net income substantially on a year-over-year basis.

Zoom Video Communications

The first company investors may be interested in is Zoom Video Communications Inc. (ZM), a San Jose, California-based provider of a platform for video-first communication services worldwide.

The company’s revenue grew 169% year over year to $328.17 million as of the first quarter, up from $122 million in the prior-year quarter. The net income was $27.08 million in the first quarter of 2020, increasing dramatically from $2.21 million.

According to GuruFocus Insider Data, the recent Chief Financial Officer (CFO) sells were for Zoom Video Communications Inc. (ZM), Twilio Inc. (TWLO) and Datadog Inc. (DDOG).

Zoom Video Communications Inc. CFO Kelly Steckelberg sold 11,067 shares

CFO Kelly Steckelberg sold 11,067 shares for $169.97 per share on May 19. Since then, the stock price has increased by 23.45%. Zoom Video Communications Inc. has a market cap of $59.16 billion and its shares were traded around $209.83. The company has a price-earnings ratio of 1234.28 and price-sales ratio of 74.33.

Zoom Video Communications announced its second-quarter results with revenue of $328.17

Facebook Inc. (FB), the largest player in the global social media industry, is one of the few companies that have weathered the recent storm in global capital markets. According to data from GuruFocus, shares are up 5% this year, which is not a bad outcome considering the turmoil in U.S. equity markets that saw shares of some companies shedding more than 50% of their market value.

This performance was fueled by the strong financial performance in the first quarter, but Wall Street analysts are expecting the second quarter to be one of the worst periods in recent memory for Facebook.

Jim Simons (Trades, Portfolio), founder of Renaissance Technologies LLC, has released his firm's portfolio for the first quarter. The top buys were Zoom Video Communications Inc. (ZM), Baidu Inc. (BIDU), Allergan PLC (AGN), Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. (BMY) and NextEra Energy Inc. (NEE).

Renaissance Technologies LLC is a quantitative investment management company that trades in global financial markets. The company is dedicated to adhering to mathematical and statistical methods. Investments are made using a computer algorithm and trades are conducted for Simons by his firm.

The guru’s portfolio, valued at $102.96 billion, gained 578 new holdings during

The Covid-19 viral pandemic that hit our shores in early 2020 shut down the economy to a virtual halt, and unemployment has skyrocketed to an estimated 19%, as 30 million people have now filed for unemployment benefits over the last six weeks (see chart below). Shockingly, we have not seen joblessness levels this high since the Great Depression. All this destruction has investors asking themselves, “What the heck, and what now?

Forecasts for 2nd quarter economic activity (Gross Domestic Product) are estimating an unprecedented decline of -12% (see chart below) with some projections plummeting as low as

Media and telecommunications giant AT&T Inc. (T) reported disappointing first-quarter results before the opening bell on Wednesday, sending shares lower.

The Dallas-based company, which provides wireless, satellite TV and fixed-line services, posted adjusted earnings of 84 cents per share, which were down slightly from 86 cents in the prior-year quarter and were just shy of Refinitiv’s estimates of 85 cents. Further, AT&T noted that the impact of the coronavirus reduced earnings by 5 cents per share and had a $435 million impact on its earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization.

Revenue came in at $42.8 billion, which was down