US stocks gain as investors await a flood of earnings reports
US stocks gained on Tuesday after two straight days of losses last week as investors await a flood of earnings reports in the week ahead.
Janet Yellen urged lawmakers at her Senate confirmation hearing on Tuesday morning that now is the time to "act big" on another massive rescue package to combat the pandemic.
US stocks gained on Tuesday after two straight days of losses last week as investors await a flood of earnings reports in the week ahead.
Janet Yellen, President-elect Joe Biden's pick to head the Treasury, urged lawmakers at her Senate confirmation hearing on Tuesday morning that now is the time to "act big" on another massive rescue package to combat the pandemic.
"Neither the President-elect, nor I, propose this relief package without an appreciation for the country's debt burden," Yellen said in introductory remarks during a Senate Finance Committee hearing. "But right now, with interest rates at historic lows, the smartest thing we can do is act big."
Yellen also said that there won't be any tax hikes or repeals of the 2017 tax reform provisions while the US is coming out of the pandemic in 2021, but any plans for tax changes could still jolt markets.
"Yellen said that the details of tax changes may be featured in this year's infrastructure bill, which she is going to help draft. This could be setting up an ebullient market for a bit of a bull correction. Investors are more likely to get jolted when seeing details of the tax hikes, just as they got giddy in 2017 when the corporate tax cuts were announced," said Max Gokhman, Head of Asset Allocation at Pacific Life Fund Advisors.
Netflix is set to report fourth-quarter earnings after the market closes on Tuesday. Here's what four analysts expect when the streaming giant reports earnings and how they expect the stock to move. You can find a full calendar of this week's earnings here.
Here's where US indexes stood at the 4 p.m. ET close on Tuesday:
- S&P 500: 3,798.91, up 0.81%
- Dow Jones industrial average: 30,930.52, up 0.38% (116.26 points)
- Nasdaq composite: 13,197.18, up 1.53%
President-elect Joe Biden's $1.9 trillion rescue plan could boost nominal GDP growth to 11.4% year-over-year by the end of 2021, according to JPMorgan's David Kelly.
AMC Entertainment rallied as much as 37% on Tuesday after announcing it raised $100 million to extend its cash runway amid widespread theater closures.
BlackBerry shares spiked as much as 20% after the company announced it settled a patent infringement suit with Facebook. The terms of the settlement weren't disclosed.
Bitcoin failed to break through previous records and fell to $36,302.434 as the market day ended.
Spot gold increased 0.51%, to $1,839.20 per ounce. The US dollar strengthened against all Group-of-10 currency peers and Treasury yields declined.
Oil prices were higher. West Texas Intermediate crude increased 1.22% to $53.00 per barrel. Brent crude, oil's international benchmark, increased 2.03%, to $55.86 per barrel.
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