US stocks edge higher as vaccine approval supports gains ahead of Fed's Jackson Hole meeting
- The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq Composite were nearing new records on Tuesday.
- Stocks extended gains after Monday's approval by the FDA of Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine.
- Investors are looking toward the Federal Reserve's policy symposium later this week.
Stocks rose Tuesday, extending gains from the previous session during which the US drug regulator gave its first full approval to a COVID-19 vaccine, boosting expectations that more vaccinations will curb rising infections and lessen the threat to economic growth.
The S&P 500 was at the doorstep of a new record high as was the Nasdaq Composite. Stocks remained higher after the Food and Drug Administration on Monday approved Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine.
The move came ahead of Thursday's start of the Federal Reserve's virtual Jackson Hole, Wyoming, conference where Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell is expected to outline the central bank's outlook on US economic recovery.
Here's where US indexes stood at 9:30 a.m. on Tuesday:
- S&P 500: 4,484.89, up 0.12%
- Dow Jones Industrial Average: 35,397.15, up 0.17% (51.87 points)
- Nasdaq Composite: 14,972.21, up 0.2%
"We expect Powell to endorse the idea that [asset-purchase] tapering is likely to be announced later this year, with the important caveat that any prospective decision remains subject to uncertainties related to the pandemic and to the evolution of the labor market," Ryan Wang, a US economist at HSBC, wrote in a note Tuesday. "However, we think it less likely that he will spell out the precise timing just yet, since the [Federal Open Market] Committee did not appear to reach a consensus on this issue in July."
Around the markets, value investor Joel Greenblatt slashed his GameStop and AMC stakes before the meme-stock boom, missing out on a potential $400 million windfall.
A Swiss shoemaker backed by tennis legend Roger Federer plans to go public in New York at a potential $8 billion valuation.
Gold picked up 0.1% to $1,806.94 per ounce. The yield on the US 10-year Treasury note edged up to 1.26%.
Oil prices climbed. West Texas Intermediate crude rose 1.3% to $66.52 per barrel. Brent crude, oil's international benchmark, gained 1.5%, to $69.81 per barrel.
Bitcoin slipped 0.4% to $49,348.87.