Stocks hit records after Dems win Senate
Stocks on Wall Street soared to record levels Thursday – investors seeming to block out the crisis in Washington amid growing calls for the removal of President Donald Trump after Wednesday’s chaos when a Pro-Trump mob stormed the U.S. Capitol.
Investors are looking to January 20th - betting that more badly-needed economic aid will be delivered under a Biden Administration and a Congress soon to be controlled by Democrats.
Crossmark Global Investments chief market strategist Victoria Fernandez:
“Well, I think really, what the markets are doing is seeing what happened in Washington yesterday, and they’re looking a little bit longer at the stimulus package that’s going to be coming. For that, we’re seeing the markets react, and it’s a day-to-day reaction on the markets. But today, it’s the idea that more stimulus is coming.”
The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury moved higher, and that in turn fueled financial stocks. Other economically sensitive sectors such as industrials and energy also rallied, lifting the S&P 500 one-and-a-half percent and the Dow seven-tenth percent.
Tech stocks performed even better, erasing Wednesday’s losses and boosting the Nasdaq two-and-a-half percent.
Among the biggest drivers on that index: Tesla. Shares jumped 8% after RBC Capital Markets upgraded the electric car maker’s stock to “sector perform” from “underperform.” That pushed Tesla CEO Elon Musk past Amazon founder Jeff Bezos to become the world’s richest person, according to Bloomberg. The company’s stock market valuation also topped that of Facebook for the first time.
Walgreens Boots Alliance shares were the Dow’s top gainer, rising 5%. Higher sales at its retail drug stores and higher prescription volumes drove the company’s adjusted quarterly profit past analysts’ targets.
