A woman takes a selfie with the ‘Charging Bull’ statue on February 17, 2021 in New York City.
ANGELA WEISS | AFP | Getty Images
Stock futures closed at record highs on Monday after the Dow Jones industrial average and the S&P 500, with strong economic data raising hopes of a smooth recovery.
Forward contracts on the Dow Jones Industrial Average and S&P 500 futures contracts have changed little. Nasdaq 100 futures rose 0.2%.
Wall Street rose to a record level on Monday after a report on standouts and an increase in the operating activity of the services showed that the economic boom was gaining momentum amid accelerated vaccination of vaccines.
“Vaccinations are starting to take a record and historical congressional stimulus efforts have paved the way for continued positive market momentum,” said Chris Larkin, managing director of trading and investment products at E-Trade Financial.
Bond yields once again had a quiet session with the ten-year treasury yield constant at 1.71%, easing fears of rising inflation.
Loretta Mester, president of the Federal Reserve Board of Cleveland, told CNBC on Monday that she is largely unconcerned about the run-up to the yields on government bonds this year.
“I think the higher yield on bonds is very understandable in the context of the improvement in the economic outlook. The increase was an orderly increase,” Mester said. “So at this point I’m not worried about the rise in yields. I do not think there is anything the Fed is reacting to.”
Investors are still evaluating President Joe Biden’s $ 2 trillion infrastructure proposal and its chances of becoming a reality. While politicians on both sides of the aisle support funding to rebuild U.S. roads and bridges, there remain differences of opinion about other priorities and the ultimate size of the bill. There is also debate over Biden’s plan to partially increase company tax to 28% to fund the plan.
Biden said Monday he is not worried that a tax increase in the company will hurt the economy. Conservative Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia has said he opposes the proposed tax increase to 28%.