US equity markets rallied, with both the Dow and S&P500 logging a fourth straight day of gains investors continued to eye developments in Congress around a fresh coronavirus aid package and digested the latest earnings releases - Dow rallied +373-points or +1.39%, it largest daily percentage increase since 14 July. The Walt Disney Co rallied +8.8% following the release of their fiscal third quarter result after the closing bell of the previous session. Johnson & Johnson rose +0.8% after the company said it will receive more than US$1B from the U.S. government to manufacture 100M doses of its investigational COVID-19 vaccine. Boeing Co gained +5.58%, with Chief Financial Officer Greg Smith saying that the company does not see the need to add to liquidity through additional debt offerings to manage the downturn in global aviation caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. The broader S&P500 gained +0.64% . Bristol-Myers Squibb Co gained +4.88% in the extended session after receiving a positive federal court judgement around a patent infringement for a blood thinner Eliquis. Costco Wholesale Corp rose +1.84% in after-hours trading that July sales rose +14% to US$13.04B, from US$11.43B in July 2019. Same-store sales rose 13.2%, including a 13.3% increase in U.S. same-store sales. E-commerce sales increased 75.3%, the company said. Airline stocks rose broadly after Senate Republicans said they supported an additional US$25B in federal aid for the industry. United Airlines Holdings closed +4.46% higher , Delta Air Lines Inc +3.12% and American Airlines Group Inc +9.5%. The NASDAQ gained +0.53% (to 10,998.40) and logging its 31st record closing high of 2020 and touching a fresh record intra-day peak of 11,002.11. Apple Inc rose +0.36%, shrugging off a downgrade by analysts at Bank of America. In merger and acquisition (M&A) news, Teladoc Health Inc (down -19.01%) and Livongo Health Inc (-11.4%) announced they have agreed to merge in a deal valued at $18.5 billion to create a company that can serve a spectrum of health needs, using virtual care.
