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It wasn't all good news for stocks Wednesday -- the Nasdaq was negative for much of the day -- but hump day ended on a positive note.
Excitement about a promising Covid-19 vaccine, tested by Moderna, and better-than-expected Goldman Sachs earnings helped boost stocks. That overcame continued fears about the coronavirus pandemic spiraling out of control and weighing on the economic recovery.
Stocks are heading back in the right direction as we approach the final stretch
No one wants to be stuck in a store right now. Instead, we're stuck in our homes -- and those stuffed-to-the-gills closets are starting to annoy us.
Both of those trends are boons for Poshmark, a resale ecommerce company.
"As people turn back into their homes, they realize how much excess stuff they have," said Poshmark CEO Manish Chandra on CNN Business' "Markets Now" live show. "We let anyone become an entrepreneur."
He noted that the joy of shopping is gone as people are required to wear masks and reluctant to touch items. Instead, Chandra said Poshmark can "bring that joy to your home."
The sales pitch has worked with a massive surge for the company, which is enjoying 50% growth in sales and listings and 40% uptick in new sellers.
Although some might be fearful of buying used items from someone else's home, Chandra said it's safer to buy from a reseller, because it takes longer for those items to get to your doorstep than, say, food delivery, giving any possible coronavirus contagion time to become a non-factor.
Poshmark is a private company. It was planning to go public last year but pulled its IPO in September, saying it would revisit that decision at a later time.
This recession is full of contradictions. We're in a recovery, but still in a recession. The stock market is bouncing back strongly, but markets remain super volatile.
But if we take the broader look? We start to see that the bounce back is leveling off. Just a bit.
"It may be two steps forward, one step back along the way," said Lakshman Achuthan, co-founder of the Economic Cycle Research Institute, on CNN Business' "Markets Now" live show.
He noted the quick snapback in the jobs report may not remain as strong and long lasting as economists had hoped. Leading economic indexes continue to point to the upside --they're not showing a fresh slowdown -- but, he noted "There's a lot of 'on the one hand / on the other hand' going on."
"As deep and bad as this recession has been, it was going to be relatively short-lived," Achuthan said. "But we have to be on guard. ... What happened in this recession was literally off the charts."
Tech might have flown a bit too close to the sun lately. An emerging tech Cold War between China and the United States isn't exactly good news for American technology companies.
Big Tech declines led the Nasdaq, a trailer all day, into slightly negative territory by midday. The broader stock market remained positive, with the Dow up about 100 points and the S&P 500 index 0.4% higher.
It was looking earlier today like stocks were going to soar, but we'll settle for this.
Two big factors -- Moderna's promising Covid-19 vaccine trial, and Goldman Sachs' way-better-than-expected earnings report -- are pushing stocks higher. But, you know, it's hard to get too excited about anything these days, and investor enthusiasm is significantly more muted at the moment than it was earlier this morning.
The company expects demand to improve slightly this summer, with sales falling 15% to 20%. Burberry didn't release full-year guidance because of uncertainties caused by the virus.
"The second half, and the course of the pandemic from here, will largely depend on the actions governments pursue to control the spread of the virus as economies restart, including their responses to second viral waves, as well as the phasing of store re-openings, an easing of travel restrictions, and the on-going consumer response," Burberry said in a statement.
The pandemic-fueled plunge in air travel demand has led to massive losses and sharply lower stock prices across the industry.
But the bad news is that Goldman's global GDP forecast has darkened, with a drop of 3.4% now anticipated.
"We are navigating an uncertain macroeconomic backdrop brought on by an extraordinary global health crisis," Solomon said. "The path to reopening in many US states and corresponding economic consequences remain unclear."