Here are today’s market moves:
S&P 500 up 0.10% to 3,830.17
Dow Jones up 0.12% to 30,723.60
Nasdaq down 0.016% to 13,610.54
Gold: $1,824
Bitcoin: $37,862
US10Y: 1.149%
What Happened?
The S&P 500 rose for the third straight day Wednesday as investors turned their focus to an improving economic outlook and away from the drama involving GameStop.
Stock indexes have rallied this week, pushing aside worries about stretched valuations and the threat of new COVID variants.
Investors have concentrated on better-than-expected earnings results, positive developments in coronavirus vaccinations and hopes that in the coming weeks President Biden will provide more fiscal spending.
The Biden administration has called for a package totaling $1.9 trillion, but this week a counter offer from Republicans was less than half that.
Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen will gather the heads of the Fed, New York Fed, the SEC, and CFTC to review the recent market activity by retail traders in GameStop and other stocks.
Apple, Amazon, Alphabet, and Facebook – the four largest tech firms – had their most profitable year ever last year.
What Else?
This Week
Monday: Earnings expected from Nintendo and Warner Music Group.
Tuesday: Earnings expected from Amazon, Google, Alibaba, Chipotle, ExxonMobil, BP, Pfizer, and UPS; Reserve Bank of Australia’s policy decision released.
Wednesday: Earnings expected from PayPal, Spotify, and Sony.
Thursday: Weekly jobless claims; Earnings expected from Ford, Pinterest, Snap, and Clorox.
Friday: January U.S. payrolls report and unemployment rate released.