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Dow Jones Industrial Average Gains 12% in November
It was its best month since January 1987.
The stock market went on a tear last month, with the Nasdaq and S&P 500 posting their best months since April, and their best November since 2001 and 1928, respectively.
Investors are looking past the recent jump in coronavirus case counts, thanks to news of highly effective vaccines that are in the final stages of development.
One word of caution: The vaccine might not be widely distributed until halfway through next year. And while stock-market investors might be able to look past a tough few months, small businesses and workers will probably have more trouble.
Slack Technologies Gains 5% Amid Reports of Salesforce.com Deal
Slack could announce a deal with the enterprise-software company as soon as this week.
News reports haven’t yet specified a price for Slack, but one report said it would be a half-cash half-stock deal at a premium to its current stock price. The intra-office chat platform has a stock-market valuation of $24 billion, and even that price would make it Salesforce’s biggest acquisition ever.
The deal talks were originally reported–to less fanfare–during the Thanksgiving holiday week, and Wall Street is skeptical. Slack has faced more competition since the start of the pandemic from products with video-calling capabilities, such as Zoom Video Communications and Microsoft’s Teams platform.
Covid-19 Hospitalizations Hit Record High Sunday with 93,238
That is well above the peak from earlier this year. And it doesn’t even reflect any spread from the Thanksgiving holiday.
While markets haven’t been panicking, vaccines may not be widely distributed until next spring or summer. Officials have started to warn that hospital systems could be overwhelmed this winter if Covid-19 continues to spread, and some hard-hit areas may need to go back into lockdown.
The surge in hospitalizations comes at a vulnerable time for the U.S. economy. Jobless claims rose again last week, and the Federal Reserve is going to withdraw some of its support from the economy by ending a few key lending programs at the end of this month. That means state and local governments, midsize businesses, and workers could be without an important safety net.
Numbers by Barron’s is our daily podcast. Find out more here.
Write to Alexandra Scaggs at [email protected]
