Dow reclaims 25K ahead of SpaceX-NASA delayed launch

U.S. equity markets rallied Wednesday as U.S. states continued with their plans to reopen America and as NASA and Elon Musk's SpaceX prepared to make history.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average reclaimed the key 25,000 level, climbing 553 points, or 2.21 percent. The S&P 500 added 1.48 percent to settle above the 3,000 level while the Nasdaq Composite gained 0.77 percent.

Ticker	Security	Last	Change	Change %
I:DJI	DOW JONES AVERAGES	37753.31	-45.66	-0.12%
SP500	S&P 500	5022.21	-29.20	-0.58%
I:COMP	NASDAQ COMPOSITE INDEX	15683.372497	-181.88	-1.15%

President Trump was on hand for SpaceX's launch, which was delayed due to weather.

ELON MUSK'S SPACEX-NASA LAUNCH DELAYED

The new launch date is this coming Saturday which will mark the first time since 2011 that American astronauts are launched into space from U.S. soil.

MEET NASA SPACEX ASTRONAUTS BOB BEHNKEN AND DOUG HURLEY

The launch complements the reopening of America as at least two states eased lockdown restrictions, with Colorado allowing limited in-person dining at restaurants and Minnesota letting places of worship open to 25 percent capacity. Additionally, Kansas and Nevada on Tuesday evening announced further relaxing of their restrictions.

The social and economic momentum boosted airlines, cruise operators and other travel-related names for a second straight day.

Ticker	Security	Last	Change	Change %
AAL	AMERICAN AIRLINES GROUP INC.	13.89	+0.86	+6.60%
RCL	ROYAL CARIBBEAN GROUP	128.01	+1.39	+1.10%
EXPE	EXPEDIA GROUP INC.	128.73	-0.21	-0.16%

Meanwhile, social-media companies were in focus after Twitter added a “fact check” of President Trump’s tweets for the first time on Tuesday evening. The president responded by saying, on Twitter, that the company is “stifling free speech” and that he “won’t allow it to happen.”

Dow component Boeing will lay off 2,500 workers this week, as the jet maker works toward its previously announced goal of reducing its labor force by 10 percent.

Ticker	Security	Last	Change	Change %
TWTR	n.a.	n.a.	n.a.	n.a.
FB	n.a.	n.a.	n.a.	n.a.
BA	THE BOEING CO.	170.19	-0.35	-0.21%

On the earnings front, Ralph Lauren lost $249 million in its fiscal fourth-quarter as the COVID-19 pandemic and Hong Kong protests had an adverse impact on business. While the apparel maker's loss was bigger than Wall Street analysts expected, sales of $1.27 billion outpaced estimates.

Domino’s Pizza reported U.S. same-store sales surged 14 percent in the months of April and May. International sales edged up 1 percent over the same period.

Rival pizza chain Papa John’s reported North American same-store sales soared a record 33.5 percent in May. Global revenue climbed 7 percent.

Ticker	Security	Last	Change	Change %
RL	RALPH LAUREN CORP.	159.28	-1.64	-1.02%
DPZ	DOMINO'S PIZZA INC.	482.00	-4.57	-0.94%
PZZA	PAPA JOHN'S INTERNATIONAL INC.	60.95	-0.79	-1.28%

Elsewhere, electric-vehicle maker Tesla announced price reductions for vehicles in North America and China as demand waned in the wake of COVID-19. The size of the price reductions are not yet known.

Chinese rival Nio was upgraded to neutral and its price target raised to $3.50 from $2 at J.P. Morgan, ahead of the company’s quarterly earnings report, which is expected on Thursday.

Ticker	Security	Last	Change	Change %
TSLA	TESLA INC.	155.45	-1.66	-1.06%
NIO	NIO INC.	3.92	+0.10	+2.62%

West Texas Intermediate crude oil slid 4.48 percent to $32.81 per barrel and gold edged up 0.32 percent to $1,710.30 an ounce.

U.S. Treasurys reversed earlier losses, pushing the yield on the 10-year note down 2 basis points to 0.677 percent.

In Europe, France’s CAC gained 1.79 percent, Germany’s DAX climbed 1.33 percent and Britain’s FTSE rallied 1.26 percent.

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Asian markets ended mixed, with Japan’s Nikkei up 0.7 percent while China’s Shanghai Composite and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng fell 0.34 percent and 0.36 percent, respectively.