4.05pm: Dow, Nasdaq and the S&P 500 all hit new intraday highs
US stocks advanced after the House of Representatives late Friday passed a more than $1 trillion infrastructure bill that would provide new funding for projects such as transportation, utilities and broadband.
At the close, the Dow rose 104 points to 36,432, while the S&P 500 gained 4 points at 4,708 and the tech-heavy Nasdaq added 11 points at 15,982.
Notable movers to the downside included shares of Tesla Inc, which slipped more than 4% after company founder Elon Musk hinted in a Twitter post that he might be willing to sell 10% of his shares in the electric vehicle maker.
12:10pm: US stocks mixed midday
US stocks were mixed midday following Congress’ approval of a $1 trillion-plus infrastructure spending package.
Industrials and materials stocks rallied Monday with those names set to benefit from the spending package, which was passed on Friday and now awaits President Biden’s signature.
As of noon, the Dow was up 41 points, or 0.11%, to 36,357. The S&P 500 fell 2 points, or 0.04%, to 4,695.
The tech-heavy Nasdaq increased 11 points, or 0.06%, to stand at 15,980.
Chris Beauchamp, chief market analyst at online trading group IG, said investors, after strong gains in the recent month, are now looking ahead to 2022 for a repeat.
“It is hardly surprising that a cautious view prevails, but a look at history suggests that further strong returns are usually the norm, and despite the heady gains of the last eighteen months this rally has actually been quite normal in terms of the size of the gains and the time taken,” he said.
The biggest gainer on the day so far is The Trade Desk Inc, up 29% to $88.61 a share.
11am: Proactive North America headlines:
Recruiter.com sees monthly Recruiter Index improve for a second month
The Valens Company (TSX:VLNS, OTCQX:VLNCF) closes C$54.3M acquisition of Citizen Stash Cannabis in all-stock deal
CULT Food Science announces strategic investment in UK-based 3D Bio-Tissues Limited
Trillion Energy International announces upcoming shareholder vote to move company to Canada
Benchmark Metals intersects high-grade gold and silver mineralization at Cliff Mid Zone at flagship Lawyers Gold-Silver project
Vendetta Mining releases positive new drill results from the Zone 5 drill program at its Pegmont lead-zinc project in Australia
MGX Minerals announces preliminary magnesium fuel specification parameters for Mg/CO2-type rockets
Karora Resources confirms record 3Q gold output on “strong” operational performance
American Battery Technology wins $2M USABC contract for demonstration of integrated lithium-ion battery recycling technologies
Empower says its subsidiary Kai Medical Laboratory commences first coronavirus vaccine drive-through service in Dallas, Texas
Bragg Gaming sees 3Q revenue rise by 9.9% and lifts guidance as its newest markets perform above expectations
Group Eleven Resources reveals strongest drill results to date at Caricklittle prospect on the PG West project in Ireland
Harbor Custom Development enters contract to sell 30 developed lots in Horseshoe Bay, Texas for over $6M
Ascendant Resources signs definitive mining concession contract for its Lagoa Salgada project in Portugal
NEXE announces partnership with Crew Marketing Partners to drive sales through targeted awareness campaigns
Tribe Property Technologies completes acquisition of rental management assets from NAI Commercial Okanagan
Mindset Pharma announces poster presentation on lead candidate at Society for Neuroscience meeting
Safe-T Group (NASDAQ:SFET) announces boost to iShield consumer cybersecurity product with advanced ransomware protection capabilities
Aurion Resources (TSX-V:AU) inks deal to option its Silaskaira property in Finland to Kinross Gold
Q BioMed bolsters commercialization of Strontium89 with EVERSANA partnership
Heritage Cannabis announces record 4Q sales as it moves towards positive cash flow
NorthWest Copper (TSX-V:NWST) finds new copper-gold porphyry at East Niv, BC with first drill campaign there
CytoDyn submits Breakthrough Therapy designation application to FDA for leronlimab as a treatment for Metastatic Triple-Negative Breast Cancer
Clean Air Metals appoints Shannin Metatawabin, CEO of the National Aboriginal Capital Corporations Association to its board
Fobi closes acquisition of PassWallet assets from Quicket, with an increase of 1.28 million downloads in a month
First Cobalt (TSX-V:FCC, OTCQX:FTSSF) unveils plans to create North America's only battery materials park and a name change to Electra Battery Materials Corp
Bam Bam discovers new copper porphyry at Majuba Hill project
Elon Musk set to sell large Tesla stake after Twitter poll
9.50am: Wall Street goes higher at open
Wall Street shares raced out of the gate to start higher on Monday, building on Friday's record gains, and as Congress passed a new infrastructure spending package worth over US$1 trillion (trn) late on Friday.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average in New York added around 190 points at 36,518, the S&P 500 gained over16 points to stand at 4,714. The tech-laden Nasdaq exchange added over 65 points at 16,037.
The bill was passed by the House of Representatives and now just needs President Joe Biden's signature. The package would provide new funding for transportation, utilities and broadband, among others.
Last week, positive sentiment won over the equity markets as employment data and earnings were stronger than expected, while the Federal Reserve did announce that it will finally begin tapering its pandemic-era economic aid by the end of this month.
"US capital markets only want to hear one story at the moment as that's what suits its buy-everything narrative," said Jeffrey Halley, Senior Market Analyst, Asia Pacific, at Forex firm OANDA in a note earlier.
"That's an economic recovery reinforced by total belief in Jerome Powell's promises that post-the-Fed-taper, interest rates hikes will not be on the horizon."
The analyst added: "My favourite quote, known to long-time readers, is 'markets can remain irrational, longer than you can stay solvent'".
6.30am: US stocks seen opening mixed to higher
US stocks are expected to open mostly higher, building on new records set last week after a better-than-expected employment report for October and as corporate earnings also continue to surprise to the upside.
Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.22% in Monday pre-market trading, while the broader S&P 500 index added 0.07% and those for the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 shed 0.02%.
US stocks closed higher on Friday after October non-farm payrolls data showed employment gains of 531,000, beating consensus estimates for 450,000 new jobs.
Also driving positive sentiment was Pfizer which said that its coronavirus (COVID-19) drug, used with an HIV drug, cut the risk of hospitalization by 89%.
On the day, the Dow Jones increased by 204 points, or 0.56%, to 36,328 and the S&P rose 0.37% to 4,698 while the Nasdaq gained 0.2% to 15,972.
“US futures are steady after another round of all-time highs on Friday,” commented Neil Wilson, chief market analyst at markets.com.
“Earnings are better than were expected, jobs growth is picking up and the Fed’s carried off the taper without undue alarm. Pfizer’s antiviral announcement on Friday is a major positive: Dr Scott Gottlieb said the US is ‘close to the end of the pandemic phase’.
“After last week’s round of policy meetings, this week we get a lot of jawboning from the likes of Powell, Bailey and Macklem on equality and diversity. We’ll also be watching the US CPI numbers on Tuesday, and UK growth numbers for the third quarter on Thursday.”