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MSCI’s gauge of global stocks and the Nasdaq extended their runs to fresh highs on Tuesday, February 9, and oil prices pushed their rally into a 7th straight session as strong earnings and economic recovery prospects buoyed investor sentiment.
The S&P 500 and Dow ended slightly lower, however, breaking their 6-day streak of gains, as investors rotated out of large-cap tech names into other sectors.
Bitcoin climbed to another all-time peak, extending gains in the wake of an endorsement from Tesla.
On Wall Street, investors awaited further news on the proposed $1.9-trillion US stimulus plan, while Donald Trump’s historic impeachment trial on a charge of inciting last month’s deadly storming of the US Capitol began, making Trump the first former US president to be tried in the Senate.
Optimism over monetary and fiscal support from policymakers, robust corporate earnings, and the prospect that coronavirus vaccines could hasten a return to normality in the United States and other countries have bolstered risk sentiment.
Investors are hard-pressed to find significant negatives, said Michael James, managing director of equity trading at Wedbush Securities in Los Angeles.
“You’re not seeing money coming out of the market and going into cash,” James said. “You’re seeing money coming out of one sector and being rotated into another sector to maintain an overall long bias.”
Against this backdrop, concerns remain over the pace of vaccination, its efficacy against new variants of the novel coronavirus and the damage being done to economies.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 9.93 points, or 0.03%, to 31,375.83, the S&P 500 lost 4.36 points, or 0.11%, to 3,911.23, and the Nasdaq Composite added 20.06 points, or 0.14%, to 14,007.70.
The Nasdaq hit an all-time high for the 5th consecutive session, while the small-cap Russell 2000 index also registered a record closing high.
The pan-European STOXX 600 index lost 0.09% and MSCI’s gauge of stocks across the globe gained 0.17%.
Oil prices rose for their 7th straight session as investors bet fuel demand would rise.
Brent settled up 53 cents, or 0.9%, to $61.06 a barrel. US West Texas Intermediate crude (WTI) for March was at $58.36 a barrel, up 39 cents, or 0.7%. The session peaks for both benchmarks were the highest since January 2020.
The dollar fell to two-week lows. The dollar index was last down 0.6%, with the euro up 0.59% to $1.2119.
Bitcoin soared to a record high, headed toward the $50,000 milestone. It has surged more than 1,000% since March 2020 and analysts said forecasts of bitcoin hitting $100,000 this year no longer seem far-fetched.
The gains follow disclosures from Tesla on Monday, February 8, that it had invested around $1.5 billion in the virtual currency and expects to accept it as payment for its cars in the future.
Benchmark US Treasury yields made up earlier declines as investors prepared for the US Treasury Department to sell new long-dated debt, but they held below 11-month highs reached on Monday.
Ten-year yields were little changed on the day at 1.164%, holding below the 1.200% level reached on Monday.
Spot gold added 0.1% to $1,838.49 an ounce. – Rappler.com
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