Bulls Key in on Infrastructure Package to Boost Stocks…..
U.S. equities finished modestly higher, adding to last week’s gains and posting fresh record highs in the wake of the Fed’s tapering decision and Friday’s strong October Labor Report. The bulls seemed to key in on a $1.2 trillion infrastructure spending package that passed the House on Friday night and is awaiting President Biden’s signature. More positive pandemic-related news also aided sentiment, with Regeneron Pharmaceuticals announcing upbeat results of a late-stage trial of its investigational monoclonal COVID-19 antibody cocktail. In other equity news, Coty topped profit projections and offered upbeat guidance as Q3 earnings season continues down the home stretch, while McAfee agreed to be acquired by an investor group for $12 billion in cash. The U.S. economic calendar was void of any major releases today, but is set to deliver glimpses of the October inflation picture beginning with tomorrow’s Producer Price Index. Treasuries were mostly lower to modestly lift yields and the U.S. dollar traded to the downside. Crude oil and gold prices gained ground. Europe finished mixed despite an unexpected rise in Eurozone investor confidence for this month, while markets in Asia were also mixed following some divergent Chinese trade data.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 104 points (0.3%) to 36,432, the S&P 500 Index increased 4 points (0.1%) to 4,702, and the Nasdaq Composite gained 11 points (0.1%) to 15,982. In moderately-heavy volume, 859 million shares were traded on the NYSE and 5.4 billion shares changed hands on the Nasdaq. WTI crude oil increased $0.66 to $81.93 per barrel. Elsewhere, the gold spot price advanced $9.50 to $1,826.30 per ounce, and the Dollar Index—a comparison of the U.S. dollar to six major world currencies—was 0.3% lower at 94.05.
Treasury yields moved higher, economic calendar set to deliver October inflation picture. Treasuries were mostly lower with the economic calendar void of any major releases today, as the yield on the 2-year note gained 5 basis points (bps) to 0.45% and the yield on the 10-year note rose 4 bps to 1.50%, while the 30-year bond rate was flat at 1.89%.
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