Stocks Reverse Losses For The Year; Roku, Movie Theaters Lead Friday Rally

The Dow reversed its losses for the year and the Nasdaq and S&P 500 hit records at close as investors saw a possible tempering of COVID-19 spread and liked a policy speech by the Federal Reserve chief the day before.

Shrugging off continued high unemployment and the ongoing pandemic, the DJIA ended the week up 161.6 points, or 0.57% — less than 1,000 points away from a record high in February.

Among showbiz stocks, Roku led, hitting a new all-time high and closing up more than 7% after a survey by Deutsche Bank found the company in the lead in the connected TV market. Deutsche Bank analyst Jeffrey Rand said in a note that the survey showed 43% of connected TV respondents said they had a Roku device versus 35% a Fire TV by rival Amazon.

Exhibitors, a highly volatile group, were also strong with Cinemark, National CineMedia and Marcus closing up, respectively, over 7%, 6% and 4%. AMC Entertainment gained 0.91%.

As theaters reopen this month, Mooky Greidinger, CEO of Regal Cinemas parent Cineworld Group, told CNBC the giant circuit is seeing lots of sold out shows, in accordance with social distancing guidelines. And California Governor Gavin Newsom announced new metrics that allow movie theaters in some counties, including San Francisco and San Diego, to open.

On Thursday, Fed chair Jerome Powell said the Central Bank’s new policy will allow inflation to hover above its historic 2% target at times in order to spur growth. And an apparent slowdown in virus spread along with hopes of a vaccine sooner rather than later seemed to buoy investors sentiment.

But tech stocks, which have powered the market’s rally, ended mixed. Apple was down 0.16%. It said Friday it has terminated Epic Games’ App Store developer account as the two companies are in the midst of a major legal battle. Netflix dipped 0.45%.

Google and Facebook firmed, respectively, 0.62% and 0.15%.