Stocks extend gains as reopening trade picks up
BNN Bloomberg
U.S. stocks rose in early trading a day after posting another all-time high in the final days of the year. Treasury yields edged lower.
U.S. stocks rose in early trading a day after posting another all-time high in the final days of the year. Treasury yields edged lower.
Financials and energy stocks were among top performers in the S&P 500 a day after the gauge hit its 70th record close of the year. The Russell 2000, a proxy for the reopening trade, outperformed other benchmarks, climbing 0.9 per cent. The tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 rebounded, reversing early losses. Biogen Inc. shares fell after Samsung Group denied a Korean media report that the U.S. drugmaker was in talks to sell itself to the company.
In an illustration of still-solid labor demand despite the latest coronavirus wave, data Thursday showed jobless claims unexpectedly fell last week while continuing claims dropped to the lowest level since March of last year.
The 10-year Treasury yield dropped back toward its 50-day moving average, while yields across most of Europe also dipped after Wednesday’s global sovereign-bond retreat. A dollar gauge was little changed.
“Despite global surges in COVID cases, the markets are reflecting the new reality that COVID is here to stay albeit more on our terms than its,” Kevin Philip, managing director at Bel Air Investment Advisors, said in an email. Next year, “we are facing less of a COVID-influenced world, and a return toward normalcy,” he said.
