Stocks closed at a record high on Monday when Wall Street entered the last week of 2020. President Donald Trump has signed a $ 900 billion economic aid package that will help reduce uncertainty as governments reintroduce travel and business newspapers in response to a new coronavirus variant. The measure also includes money for other government functions until September, but Trump expressed frustration that payments to the public were not greater. New travel and business offices threaten to weigh on global economic activity. Companies hardest hit by the pandemic – restaurants, airlines, the cruise industry – were one of the biggest gainers in early trade.
THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP’s previous story follows below.
Inventories began to rise moderately in the last week of 2020 after President Donald Trump signed a $ 900 billion economic aid package that helps reduce uncertainty amid the reopening of travel and business offices in response to a new variant of the coronavirus .
The S&P 500 index rose 14% from 14:50 Eastern. The Dow Jones industrial average rose 244 points, or 0.8%, to 30,442 and the Nasdaq Composite rose 1%. The gains put the indices on track to reach the highest points.
Trump has signed the measure, which until September also includes money for other government functions, despite expressing frustration over the payment of $ 600 to the public. His signature helped eliminate uncertainty as the recovery of travel and business offices threatens to outweigh global economic activity.
“Overall, it’s a kind of broad-based optimism, which so far has been good in the deployment of the vaccine, and the stimulus bill to bridge the gap,” said Ross Mayfield, Baird’s investment strategist. actually just a the continuation of the broader force we’ve seen over the last few months. ”
Stocks are also getting seasonal winds, Mayfield said. The market tends to climb in the last five days of trading in December and the first two trading days in January, a phenomenon known as the ‘Santa Claus rally’. Since 1950, the S&P 500 index has risen by an average of 1.3% over the seven days.
Companies hardest hit by the pandemic – restaurants, airlines and the cruise industry – were among the biggest gains on Monday. American Airlines rose 3.4%, Norwegian Cruise Lines rose 5.2% and Carnival rose 4.9%.
Technology and communications services stocks accounted for much of the increase in the broad market. Apple climbed 3.8% and Facebook 3.1%.
Shares in Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group rose 0.3% and recovered from their losses after plunging last week when government regulators launched an anti-monopoly investigation into Ant Group’s stock market debut, an online financing platform in which Alibaba ‘ n 33 possession. % interest, has been suspended.
Treasury yields were generally higher, a sign of confidence in the economy. The ten-year treasury yield, which could affect interest rates on mortgages and other consumer loans, was 0.94%.
Trading is expected to be light this week, as most fund managers and investors have closed their books for the year. It will be another holiday shortened week, with New Year’s Day on Friday.
European indices generally closed higher, helped by more details about the European Union – the UK’s trade agreement as part of the UK’s exit from the trade bloc. Germany’s DAX rose by 1.5%, while the CAC-40 in France rose by 1.2%.
In Asia, the Shanghai Composite Index rose less than 0.1% to 3,397.29, while the Nikkei 225 in Tokyo added 0.7% to 26,854.03.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng fell 0.3% to 26,314.63 after e-commerce giant Alibaba Group announced it was expanding a $ 6 billion to $ 10 billion share buyback.