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Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen listens during a meeting with President Joe Biden in the Roosevelt Room of the White House, Mar. 5, 2021 in Washington, D.C.
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U.S. stocks were rising Monday as fiscal stimulus begins to reach the economy and interest rates stabilized following their recent rise.
Shortly after the open, the
Dow Jones Industrial Average
rose 143 points, or 0.4%, with the
S&P 500
up 0.1%. The
Nasdaq Composite
was down 0.1%.
Stimulus checks are beginning to roll out, which adds to the consumers’ already large safety net of savings and ensures that reopenings can be met with plenty of pent-up demand. Now, the talk seems to be turning to tax increases, which could offset some of that optimism.
Meanwhile, interest rates, which have been rising quickly on firming inflation and economic demand expectations, paused their rise, with the 10-year Treasury yield remaining near1.62%. Investors will be looking ahead to the FOMC meeting, which ends on Wednesday, for a hint as to the direction of the next move.
“Markets are betting that inflation will rise at a faster pace than official estimates. Massive stimulus combined with fast vaccination rollouts and low interest rates are all seen as ingredients for rising prices,” said
Hussein Sayed,
chief market strategist at FXTM.
European stocks advanced, with investors bidding up the region with the least demanding valuations on optimism over the global economy recovering.
The
Stoxx Europe 600
rose 0.3%, taking the year’s gains to 6.4%, outpacing the 5% rise for the S&P 500 and the 4% gain for the
MSCI Asia Pacific.
Asian stocks were mixed, with the
Nikkei 225
up 0.2% in Tokyo and the
Hang Seng
up 0.3% in Hong Kong, while the
Shanghai Composite
fell 1% and the
Sensex
dropped 1.6% in Mumbai.
Data from China showed a big jump in activity over the prior year—with retail sales in January and February up 34% and fixed-asset investments up 35%. The investment reading came in below expectations for a 41% jump.
Flutter Entertainment
shares surged 6% in Dublin, as it said it is considering a U.S. initial public offering of a “small share” of its sports-betting and daily fantasy site FanDuel. FanDuel rival
DraftKings
has surged 508% over the last 12 months.
Shaw Communications
(ticker: SJR) shares rose 42% after
Rogers Communications
(RCI) said it would buy the company, valuing it at $26 billion.
Extended Stay America
(STAY) climbed 14.5% after agreeing to be bought for $6 billion by
Blackstone Group
Inc. (BX) and Starwood Capital Group.
MGM Resorts
(MGM) shares rose 5.5% after Jefferies upgraded the stock to Buy from Hold.
Dollar General
(DG) shares rose 1.4% after Atlantic Equities upgraded the stock to Overweight from Neutral.
Read More: Global Stocks Mixed as U.S. Stimulus Starts Entering Bank Accounts