NEW YORK, Oct 2 — Wall Street stocks surged to a higher close yesterday, entering the final quarter of 2021 in a buying mood boosted by positive economic data, progress in the battle against Covid, and Washington developments on the potential passage of an infrastructure bill.
All three major US stock indexes seesawed earlier in the session, but began trending higher by late afternoon, led by economically sensitive cyclicals.
The rally gained momentum after the White House announced US President Joe Biden was getting more involved in negotiations over the infrastructure spending bill being debated on Capitol Hill.
Even so, all three indexes ended below last Friday’s close, falling between 1.4 per cent and 3.2 per cent, with the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq Composite posting their biggest weekly percentage drops since February.
“There was a broad based recovery today. Markets were not fixated today on new taxes or tapering,” said David Carter, chief investment officer at Lenox Wealth Advisors in New York.
“In a shift from the past few weeks there’s been no big news from Washington, so markets were forced to focus on positive economic data and a new Covid medication.”
Merck & Co Inc revealed that a recent study showed its experimental oral drug for Covid-19 cut risk of death and hospitalisation by about 50 per cent, sending its shares jumping 8.4 per cent and boosting economic reopening sentiment.
While Biden signed into law a stop-gap bill to keep the government running through December 3, lawmakers only succeeded in kicking the can down the road.
This lack of resolution prompted rating agency Fitch to warn that the United States’ ‘AAA’ credit rating could be at risk.
“Markets don’t believe the debt will be downgraded or a debt ceiling deal won’t be struck but it still adds uncertainty which is always a problem for the markets,” Carter added.
A host of economic data released on Friday showed increased consumer spending, accelerated factory activity and elevated inflation growth, which could help nudge the US Federal Reserve toward shortening its timeline for tightening its accommodative monetary policy.
Philadelphia Fed President Patrick Harker repeated his view expressed in a speech on Wednesday that he believes the central bank should begin tapering its asset purchases “soon,” but reiterated that he did not expect it to hike key interest rates until late next year or early 2023.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 482.54 points, or 1.43 per cent, to 34,326.46; the S&P 500 gained 49.5 points, or 1.15 per cent, at 4,357.04; and the Nasdaq Composite added 118.12 points, or 0.82 per cent, at 14,566.70.
Of the 11 major sectors in the S&P 500, all but healthcare stocks ended higher.
The sector was weighed down by a 11.4 per cent drop in shares of Covid vaccine maker Moderna Inc in the wake of the Merck news.
Economic optimism prompted value stocks to outperform growth, and transports and smallcaps to fare better than the broader market.
Advancing issues outnumbered decliners on the NYSE by a 2.17-to-1 ratio; on Nasdaq, a 1.63-to-1 ratio favoured advancers.
The S&P 500 posted 10 new 52-week highs and nine new lows; the Nasdaq Composite recorded 63 new highs and 136 new lows.
Volume on US exchanges was 11.02 billion shares, compared with the 10.70 billion average over the last 20 trading days. — Reuters
Source: Malay Mail
A word from our sponsor:
Need Help With Your Personal Finance / Money Issue or need a coach to help you structure or just want to learn the financial skill to self manage your financial matters and retirement. iLearnFromCloud.com
Need to solve a problem quickly, now you can solve it by learning the art of problem solving Art Of Problem Solving
Feeling hungry. Latest food news from Best Restaurant To Eat Malaysian Food and Travel Blog
Memory loss. Need to organize better. Solve problem fast with Free Mind Mapping Software Mind Mapping 101
Need A Customized System Development for your business or Going Paperless XPERT TECHNOLOGIES - Empowering The Paperless Economy
No comments:
Post a Comment