The first trading day of November brought a rally to Wall Street, as investors sought to claw back some of the losses from the previous week's market action. It's not as though any of the concerns that market participants have gone away over the weekend, as COVID-19 case counts remained high and Tuesday's presidential election promises to create plenty of drama. However, investors seemed willing to see at least the possibility that markets might not do a repeat of the bear market from late February and March. As of 10 a.m. EST, the Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI 0.26%) was up 376 points to 26,878. The S&P 500 (^GSPC 0.61%) gained 47 points to 3,317, and the Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC 0.93%) moved higher by 154 points to 11,065.
In uncertain times, investors like to stick with what works, and that was evident from the appetite for shares of electric-vehicle manufacturers NIO (NIO +5.59%) and Fisker (FSR +0.00%). Meanwhile, cruise ship stocks continued to feel the pain, and even as a key regulatory block went away, shares of Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings (NCLH 3.16%) reacted to downbeat news.
An electric performance
Shares of electric automakers NIO and Fisker sprang out of the gate on Monday. The two stocks were neck and neck, both rising 12% at 10 a.m. EST.
Image source: NIO.
For NIO, good news on October sales justified the big up move. October delivery figures came in at 5,055, doubling last year's 2,526 delivery count. NIO's product mix was impressive, as the Chinese automaker sold 2,695 of its ES6 SUVs, 1,477 larger ES8 SUV models, and 883 of the company's latest EC6 coupe SUVs. Year to date, NIO is on pace to more than double its annual delivery count from 2019.
Meanwhile, Fisker's gains came as investors finally seemed to realize that the company had completed its going-public transaction last Friday. The company was the buyout target of special purpose acquisition company Spartan Energy Acquisition, and Fisker adopted its new ticker at the beginning of last Friday's trading session. Orders for the much-anticipated Ocean SUV have been strong, and Fisker has a whole line of products planned for future years.
Electric car companies have been popular, and it'll be interesting to see how Fisker in particular does. Even with some automakers having given up their early gains, Fisker and NIO have the potential to do well if they can keep up their momentum.
Norwegian keeps passengers onshore a little longer
Meanwhile, Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings suffered a 6% drop. The cruise operator has finally pulled the plug on operations for the rest of the year, even though a regulatory decision seemed to open the possibility of a return to normal operating conditions sooner than that.
Norwegian said it would suspend all of its cruises scheduled between now and Dec. 31. The company had already given up on November cruises, but the elimination of December sailings came as a surprise to many.
The move came despite the fact that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention allowed its no-sail order to expire on Oct. 31. In its place, the CDC issued a conditional sail order that set up a phased-in approach toward returning Americans to the high seas.
Norwegian's decision was disappointing, but it makes sense that the cruise operator will need time to convince regulators that it has the health and safety protocols in place to handle COVID-19 outbreaks safely if they occur. Unfortunately, other cruise lines are likely to follow suit, ending hopes among travelers to get on board as soon as possible.
