• US equity markets rallied albeit pared gains in the final hour of trading to see the benchmark indices settle well shy of their best levels of the session - Dow up +211-points or +0.89%, paring an earlier climb of as much as +430-points or ~1.82%. Pfizer Inc fell -3.1% The broader S&P500 gained +1.15%, with Energy (up +2.47%), Financials (+2.22%) and Materials (+2.13%) leading nine of the eleven primary sectors higher. Consumer Staples (-0.41%) and Health Care (-0.05%) were the laggards. Airlines rebounded from the across-the-board declines of the previous session, with American Airlines Group Inc up +3.77%, Delta Air Lines Inc +4.58% and United Airlines Holdings Inc +1.06% The NASDAQ rose +1.41% to climb back into positive territory for 2020 (up +0.08% calendar year-to-date) after being down as much as 25%. The technology-centric index is up 35.4% from its 23 March low. PayPal Holdings Inc jumped +14.32% following the company’s first quarter result after the close of the previous session that saw the digital payments pioneer note that trends were improving in April and beyond, with 1 May marking the company’s highest volume transaction day in its history.
