Stocks moved sharply higher during trading on Tuesday, extending the strong upward move seen in the previous session. With the continued advance on the day, the markets further offset the steep losses posted last week.
The major averages all finished the day firmly in positive territory. The Dow surged up 475.57 points or 1.6 percent to 30,687.48, the Nasdaq jumped 209.38 points or 1.6 percent to 13,612.78 and the S&P 500 shot up 52.45 points or 1.4 percent to 3,826.31.
The continued strength on Wall Street came as stocks that recently benefited from the retail trading frenzy moved sharply higher.
Video game retailer GameStop (GME), which is seen as the poster child for the so-called "retail investor revolt," plummeted by 60 percent after plunging by more than 30 percent on Monday.
Shares of AMC Entertainment (AMC) also tumbled by 41.2 percent after the movie theater chain ended the previous session modestly higher.
The markets also benefited from a positive reaction to the latest earnings news, with Exxon Mobil (XOM) moving notably higher after reporting better than expected fourth quarter earnings.
Delivery giant UPS (UPS) also showed a strong move to the upside after reporting fourth quarter results that exceeded analyst estimates on both the top and bottom lines.
Traders also remain optimistic about more fiscal stimulus after President Joe Biden met with a group of ten Republican Senators who have offered a counterproposal to his $1.9 trillion relief plan.
Senator Susan Collins, R-Maine, called the meeting "very productive" and said the two sides plan to continue negotiations.
A White House statement also described the meeting as "productive" but noted that Democrats could still use the reconciliation process to pass a relief bill without Republican support.
Sector News
Banking stocks saw substantial strength on the day amid easing concerns about the retail trading frenzy, with the KBW Bank Index spiking by 2.7 percent.
Significant strength was also visible among transportation stocks, as reflected by the 2.2 percent jump by the Dow Jones Transportation Average.
Brokerage stocks also turned in a strong performance, resulting in a 1.9 percent advance by the NYSE Arca Broker/Dealer Index.
Chemical, semiconductor and computer hardware stocks also saw considerable strength, while gold stocks bucked the uptrend amid a steep drop by the price of the precious metal.
Other Markets
In overseas trading, most stock markets across the Asia-Pacific region saw further upside during trading on Tuesday. Japan's Nikkei 225 Index jumped by 1 percent, while China's Shanghai Composite Index advanced by 0.8 percent.
The major European markets also added to yesterday's strong gains. While the French CAC 40 Index soared by 1.9 percent, the German DAX Index surged up by 1.6 percent and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index climbed by 0.8 percent.
In the bond market, treasuries moved back to the downside, more than offsetting the rebound seen on Monday. As a result, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, rose by 2.8 basis points to 1.105 percent.
Looking Ahead
Following a quiet day on the U.S. economic front, trading on Wednesday may be impacted by reaction to reports on private sector employment and service sector activity.
Earnings news is also likely to help drive trading, with Google parent Alphabet (GOOGL), Amazon (AMZN), Amgen (AMGN), and Electronic Arts (EA) among the companies releasing their quarterly results after the close of today's trading.
Biogen (BIIB), Boston Scientific (BSX), Humana (HUM), and Spotify (SPOT) are also among the companies due to report their quarterly results before the start of trading on Wednesday.
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