Stocks higher ahead of Tuesday’s opening bell, with Biden’s inauguration imminent

U.S. stock futures rose higher ahead of Tuesday’s opening clock as analysts look forward to the inauguration of Joe Biden on Wednesday.

Ticker	Safety	Last	Alter	Alter%
Ek: DJI	DOW JONES AVERAGE	30814.26	-177.26	-0.57%
SP500	S&P 500	3768.25	-27.29	-0.72%
I: COMP	NASDAQ COMPOSITION INDEX	12998.502287	-114.14	-0.87%

Attention is also focused on the beginning of the new government, as President Donald Trump leaves office after four years.

“The positive shift in investor optimism ahead of the inauguration day is a clear sign that the market is leaning towards an early stamp of approval on the Biden policy agenda,” said Stephen Innes of Axi in a comment.

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Elected President Joe Biden’s nominated candidate for treasury secretary, former chair of the Federal Reserve, Janet Yellen, is urging Congress to do more to fight the recession to prevent a worse downturn.

In the testimony prepared before the Senate Finance Committee on Tuesday for her confirmation hearing, Yellen said more help was needed to spread coronavirus vaccines – the key to outbreaks – to reopen schools and families struggling with job losses , to help be fed and housed.

Last week, Biden proposed a $ 1.9 billion aid plan to provide more assistance to U.S. families, businesses and local communities and more support for vaccine production and distribution.

While Democrats endorsed the effort, many Republican lawmakers have expressed concern about the price of rising federal budget deficits.

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Yellen said she and Biden are aware of the country’s rising debt burden, but that ultra-low interest rates are now making spending a smarter choice.

The Senate Finance Committee hearing on Tuesday with Yellen is one of many that the Senate will hold while the incoming government in Biden tries to get its top cabinet officials into office quickly.

Due to the urgency, the outbreak of coronavirus has increased, although states are working to get COVID-19 vaccines into as many people as possible.

Coronavirus deaths are on the rise in nearly two-thirds of U.S. states as a winter storm pushes the total toll to 400,000 amid warnings that a new, highly contagious variant is taking hold.

In Asia, equities rose on Tuesday as the upcoming US currency shift gave hope for more support for the economy and more aggressive measures to fight the pandemic.

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The benchmarks were higher in Tokyo, Seoul and Hong Kong, but slipped in Shanghai. World markets were subdued on Monday, with US wallets closed for a holiday.

Hang Seng in Hong Kong rose 1.9% to 29,409.03 and the Nikkei 225 in Tokyo rose 1.4% to 28,633.46. South Korea’s Kospi jumped 2.6% to 3,092.66. In Australia, the S & P / ASX 500 rose 1.2% to 6,742.60. The Shanghai Composite Index fell 1.1% to 3,557.99. India’s Sensex jumped 1.3% and shares rose in most markets other than Malaysia and Indonesia.

Treasury yields have increased amid expectations that the U.S. government will borrow much more to pay for the additional stimulus proposed by President-elect Joe Biden, in addition to improved economic growth and higher inflation. The yield on the 10-year treasury increased above 1% last week for the first time since last spring and this week briefly above 1.18%. The yield on the ten-year treasury was 1.11% on Tuesday.

In other trades, U.S. crude oil lost 7 cents to $ 52.35 a barrel of electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. It dropped $ 1.20 to $ 52.42 a barrel on Monday.

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Brent crude, the international standard, picked up 31 cents to $ 55.06 a barrel.

The dollar rose to 104.02 Japanese yen from 103.69 yen late Monday. The euro strengthened to $ 1.2098 from $ 1.2078.