© Reuters. The US flag can be seen on a building on Wall Street in New York’s financial district
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By Ambar Warrick and Shreyashi Sanyal
(Reuters) – U.S. stock indices rose Tuesday as advances toward a massive government spending bill and COVID-19 bailout kept sentiment high as investors waited for new economic clues from the last Federal Reserve meeting of the year.
Apple Inc (NASDAQ 🙂 was the biggest boost for the Dow and Nasdaq, rising 4% to more than three-month highs after a report announced it would increase iPhone production by 30% in the first half of 2021.
Talks took place in Congress late Monday to agree on a bill to avert a government shutdown. Democratic and Republican leaders were more optimistic about the start of a new round of coronavirus aid, the first new relief effort since April.
Markets have moved in parallel with news about an aid bill designed to further offset the economic impact of the virus outbreak and keep liquidity high.
However, concerns over the timing of the bill, as well as a surge in the U.S. coronavirus death toll, led to a four-day losing streak on Monday, despite the start of a nationwide vaccination program on optimism.
“Some incentive is likely to be given, but investors really hope for a stronger response to the current situation,” said Rick Meckler, partner at Cherry Lane Investments in New Jersey.
At 9:54 a.m.CET, the S&P 500 rose 133.99 points or 0.45% to 29,995.54 and the S&P 500 rose by 26.03 points or 0.71% to 3,673.52. The value increased by 105.53 points or 0.85% to 12,545.57.
Technology stocks were the best performing S&P 500 sector in early trading.
With increased liquidity and extremely low lending rates, the COVID-19 pandemic made investors flock to stocks for returns, with the tech sector benefiting the most.
“The tried and tested big tech names have shown that they can weather the storm even in very difficult times with the virus. So investors see them as names that can weather potential shutdowns and hold their own even if things return to normal . ” “Meckler added.
The Fed is expected to signal an easy monetary policy in its two-day meeting starting Tuesday for the foreseeable future. The recent launch of coronavirus vaccines should also improve the central bank’s outlook for 2021.
Eli Lilly (NYSE 🙂 et al. Rose 2.1% after the company announced it would purchase Prevail Therapeutics (NASDAQ 🙂 Inc, valued at potentially $ 1.04 billion, to expand its presence in the lucrative space of Expand gene therapy. Prevail’s shares were up 83.0%.
Moderna (NASDAQ 🙂 Shares in Inc fell 3.2% despite U.S. Food and Drug Administration officials raising no new concerns about the drug company’s COVID-19 vaccine data. According to a report, the vaccine will receive emergency approval on Friday.
Issues in progress outnumbered the declines, at a ratio of 2.51 to 1 on the NYSE and 1.67 to 1 on the Nasdaq.
The S&P index made eight new 52-week highs and two new lows, while the Nasdaq made 62 new highs and 10 new lows.