Stocks edged higher Tuesday, a day after investors took a breath to assess the political turmoil in Washington and prospects for more stimulus to combat the coronavirus pandemic.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 24 points, or 0.08%, to 30,926, the S&P 500 gained 0.07% and the Nasdaq rose 0.06%.
The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury bond rose to 1.177%, the highest since March, as investors anticipated more government spending after the Joe Biden administration takes office next week. Biden has promised further economic stimulus “in the trillions of dollars.”
The jump in bond yields also was linked to comments from Atlanta Federal Reserve Bank President Raphael Bostic, who said he wasn’t “super concerned” about the rise in longer-term yields and didn’t think the Fed would need to track it too closely.
Stocks closed lower Monday and the S&P 500 ended a four-day winning streak as Wall Street’s record-setting rally paused amid political and economic uncertainties. The Nasdaq was the big loser, falling 1.3%, as shares of tech heavyweights declined after they removed President Donald Trump’s accounts from their platforms following the storming of the Capitol last week by his supporters.
Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives, meanwhile, on Monday introduced an article of impeachment against Trump, charging him with “incitement of insurrection” following last week’s deadly invasion of the Capitol.
House Democrats said they plan to vote on impeaching Trump on Wednesday unless he resigns or Vice President Mike Pence invokes constitutional authority to remove Trump from office. Pence has indicated he would reject demands from the House.
Bitcoin slipped Tuesday by 0.42% to $33,821, following a plunge from Sunday into Monday that took the world’s largest cryptocurrency down as much as 26%.
That drop – the worst two-day decline since March – followed the all-time high of almost $42,000 that bitcoin hit last Friday on continued interest in the digital currency as a hedge against inflation and an alternative to the falling dollar. The price of bitcoin has more than quadrupled in the past 12 months.
Zoom Video Communications (ZM) – Get Report rose slightly Tuesday after the online conferencing company said it plans to sell around $1.5 billion in new stock.
