Families rose on Friday to end their best week in months as President Donald Trump signaled support for a bigger coronavirus aid package deal.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed 161.39 points higher, or 0.6%, at 28,586.90. The S&P 500 gained climbed 0.9% to 3,477.13. The Nasdaq Composite advanced 1.4% to secret at 11,579.94.
Microsoft and Salesforce led the Dow higher, rising 2.5% and 2.2%, respectively. Consumer discretionary and tech were the best-performing S&P 500 sectors, progressing more than 1% each.
For the week, the Dow jumped 3.3% and posted its biggest one-week gain since August. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq were up 3.8% and 4.6%, separately, for the week. Both benchmarks had their best weekly performance since early July.
Trump tweeted on Friday that “Covid Support Negotiations are moving along. Go Big!”
CNBC’s Ylan Mui reported the administration has raised its offer for a new aid package to $1.8 trillion from $1.6 trillion. Extent, Trump later told radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh that he “would like to see a bigger stimulus case frankly than either the Democrats or Republicans are offering.”
To be sure, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell verbalized it is “unlikely” that a new aid package would be passed in the three weeks prior to the Nov. 3 election.
Trump’s comments caught a day after the administration and Democrats sent mixed messages regarding future aid.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., released reporters on Thursday she would not back aid to U.S. airlines without a broader stimulus package, something Trump hinted earlier in the week he’d tolerate. Meanwhile, Trump told Fox Business on Thursday morning that the administration and Democrats were “starting to have some absolutely productive talks.”
“Stimulus talks are really dictating the market action on a day-to-day basis,” said Keith Buchanan, portfolio superintendent at GLOBALT. Buchanan noted that the recent rhetoric indicates some progress in the negotiations, but added it is key for Washington to advancing “quickly” on the matter to “relieve the pressure that the economy is under.”
The Federal Reserve and U.S. lawmakers have spent trillions of dollars on diversified measures to keep the economy afloat during the pandemic. Earlier this year, the Fed launched an open-ended bond-buying program and Trump signed a $2.2 trillion container that included enhanced unemployment benefits and direct payments to Americans. However, economic experts — as well as the Fed — acquire urged the government to push through more aid as it would sustain the recent economic recovery.
Carl Icahn, billionaire investor and chairman of Icahn Audacities, said Thursday night these measures have been “very effective” for the economy and the market.
“If you look at lay in prices, I think some of them are ridiculously high but going short on them proves to be a very, very dear operation,” Icahn said at the 13D Monitor Active-Passive Investor Summit. “A lot of those stocks you believe are tremendously overpriced condign keep going up. So basically, I think the stimulus is doing the trick.”
“At this juncture, I’m net long because I believe that this stimulus is be given b win and it’s going to continue, especially after the election,” he said.
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