New York: The S&P 500 and the Dow hovered at record levels in choppy trading on Tuesday as bets that fiscal aid will fuel a vaccine-led economic recovery boosted sentiment in the final days of the year.
The tech-heavy Nasdaq, however, retreated as investors locked in profit in some of the market leading names such as Apple Inc and Tesla Inc.
Wall Street’s three main indexes opened at new highs for a second straight session after President Donald Trump signed a $2.3 trillion fiscal bill that restored jobless benefits to millions of Americans and averted a federal government shutdown.
While the Democratic-led U.S. House of Representatives approved a proposal to increase the COVID-19 payment checks to $2,000 from $600, it faces a tough path in the Republican-controlled Senate on Tuesday.
“This stimulus package represents an economic bridge until full vaccination… It’s a very good thing for the economy, for the people who are hurt and for the stock market,” said Thomas Hayes, managing member at Great Hill Capital Llc in New York.
Meanwhile, more than 2 million Americans have been inoculated, helping investors overlook a surge in infections that topped 19 million, with California, a major U.S. virus hot spot, likely to extend strict stay-at-home orders.
Unprecedented monetary as well as fiscal stimulus and positive vaccine data have helped the S&P 500 bounce back from a virus-led crash in March.
The benchmark index is looking at its best fourth-quarter performance since 2003 as investors returned to economically-sensitive stocks from the so called ‘stay-at-home’ plays on hopes of economic recovery. – Agencies
