The S&P 500 has rallied hard off its March lows, but the index remains down 12.9% year-to-date overall. The near-term economic outlook amid the COVID-19 shutdown is still unclear, creating a lot of uncertainty on Wall Street. The International Monetary Fund recently cut its 2020 global economic growth forecast to negative 3%.Fortunately for investors, a number of stocks have bucked the bearish trend and gained ground this year. Some of those stocks will maintain that bullish momentum as the economic downturn drags on, while others will prove to be overbought and regress.Here's what Bank of America analysts have to say about the seven best-performing S&P 500 stocks of 2020 (excluding buyouts).Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ: REGN) - Hold Regeneron is a biopharmaceutical company focused on treating eye disorders, hypercholesterolemia, cancer and other conditions. Regeneron shares have been on fire in 2020 for two main reasons. First, the company reported better-than-expected fourth-quarter earnings...
(Bloomberg) -- Plant shutdowns are leaving the U.S. dangerously close to meat shortages as coronavirus outbreaks spread to suppliers across the nation and the Americas.Almost a third of U.S. pork capacity is down, the first big poultry plants closed on Friday and experts are warning that domestic shortages are just weeks away. Brazil, the world’s No. 1 shipper of chicken and beef, saw its first major closure with the halt of a poultry plant owned by JBS SA, the world’s biggest meat company. Key operations are also down in Canada, the latest being a British Columbia poultry plant.While hundreds of plants in the Americas are still running, the staggering acceleration of supply disruptions is now raising questions over global shortfalls. Taken together, the U.S., Brazil and Canada account for about 65% of world meat trade.“It’s absolutely unprecedented,” said Brett Stuart, president of Denver-based consulting firm Global AgriTrends. “It’s a lose-lose situation...
Brent and Connie Higgins might not have the same level of resources that larger fleets do in facing the COVID-19 pandemic, but a reputation for top-tier service and an already strong cleanliness ethic are serving them well. ...
(Bloomberg) -- Currency markets were steady in early Monday trading amid further signs of positive developments in the global fight against the coronavirus and as traders awaited a key Bank of Japan policy meeting.The Australian dollar erased early modest losses and moves were muted elsewhere across foreign-exchange markets. Asian equity futures rose after a move higher for U.S. stocks on Friday. Coronavirus deaths slowed the most in more than a month in Spain, Italy and France while fatalities reported in the U.K. and New York were the lowest since the end of March.The Federal Reserve joins the BOJ and the European Central Bank announcing policy decisions this week as the battle against the pandemic continues with some countries proceeding with measures to relax lockdown measures. Several major economies will release GDP numbers, while corporate earnings will keep flooding in, including from Amazon.com Inc., Barclays Plc and Samsung Electronics Co.“This coming week...
The week ended April 24 turned out to be an up-and-down one for biotech stocks, as the sector swayed along with the broader market. Two FDA approvals came through this week, with Immunomedics, Inc.'s (NASDAQ: IMMU) breast cancer drug snagging an FDA nod and Sanofi SA's (NASDAQ: SNY) meningococcal vaccine greenlighted by the regulatory agency.View more earnings on IBBFirst-quarter earnings were healthy, although the same cannot be said of the forward outlook given the uncertainty associated with the COVID-19 pandemic. Biogen Inc (NASDAQ: BIIB) came under pressure on a delay in the regulatory filing for its Alzheimer's drug.The following are key catalysts that could sway biotech stocks in the unfolding week:Conferences * American Association for Cancer Research, or AACR, 2020 Virtual Annual Meeting: April 27-28PDUFA Dates * The FDA is set to rule on Neurocrine Biosciences, Inc.'s (NASDAQ: NBIX) NDA for Opicapone, a once-daily, oral, selective catechol-O-methyltransferase inhibitor that is being...
(Bloomberg) -- In this era of pandemic uncertainty, Chinese and Hong Kong-listed firms have come to one consensus on how to best survive it: sit on their wallets and preserve cash.They are retaining profits instead of distributing them to shareholders, with the most Hong Kong dividend payers in at least 35 years opting not to do so in the first quarter. Meanwhile, though valuations recently reached a historical low in the city, firms haven’t picked up their stock-repurchase pace. Instead, sales of additional stock are near their highest since 2018.The data help illustrate how the pandemic has distressed the corporate side of China’s economy, which contracted to start 2020, the first quarterly decline in decades. Beijing has resorted to a long list of measures to counter the fallout from the coronavirus, but so far has shown little appetite for stimulus on the scale unveiled in the U.S. or Japan even as...
The week of 4/20 came with no shortage of news. We saw a long list of online events to celebrate the international day of weed, while Los Angeles got its first cannabis and food drive-thru and Brazil authorized the production of its first cannabis-containing phytopharmaceutical product.In the Middle East, Lebanon became the first country to authorize the production of medical cannabis. Australia issued its framework for regulating the free sale of CBD products. In Colombia, Clever Leaves closed a joint agreement with a subsidiary of Canopy Growth Corp (TSX: WEED) (NYSE: CGC) to enroll in a regional supply deal that will last at least one year, while Avicanna (OTC: AVCNF) closed a private placement deal led by Chinese pharma giant Tasly. It's important to note that both companies mentioned above are domiciled in Canada, despite conducting business in Colombia.And, in the U.S., Democrats in the House of Representatives introduced a bill...
