Stocks rose as dip buyers emerged after the market selloff, tempering concern over remarks from Federal Reserve officials that pointed to a slow economic recovery. The dollar climbed.
Most groups in the S&P 500 advanced, with retailers and real-estate companies leading gains. Tech giants drove the Nasdaq 100 to a back-to-back rally, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average underperformed. The benchmark gauge dropped earlier Tuesday as Fed Chairman Jerome Powell said the economy has a long way to go before fully recovering and will need further support. Meanwhile, Chicago Fed President Charles Evans noted that rates could rise before the inflation target is reached.
Equities are still heading toward their first monthly slide since March on concern Congress hasn’t agreed on another fiscal stimulus package, while an increase in global virus cases has raised the specter of more lockdowns. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced new restrictions that are likely to last six months and told people to work from home if possible, saying the country is at a “perilous turning point” for the virus.
Congressional Democrats and Republicans and the White House have opened negotiations to resolve a dispute over farm aid that had raised the risk of a U.S. government shutdown on Oct. 1. To facilitate the talks, the House may scrap plans to vote later Tuesday on a stopgap spending bill that lacked Republican and White House support.
“We think equities will move higher over the medium term, thanks to the likely development of a successful vaccine, an end to election uncertainty, the passage of new U.S. fiscal stimulus, and continued extraordinary global monetary support,” wrote Mark Haefele, chief investment officer of global wealth management at UBS Group AG. “However, the path to ‘more normal’ is likely to be bumpy,” he said, adding that “we therefore expect volatility to persist over the balance of the year.”
Financial and energy stocks, once dominant within the S&P 500, are taking even more of a back seat to technology shares than they did as a bull market ended 20 years ago.
The two industry groups together have trailed the weight of the S&P 500 Technology Index by as much as 17 percentage points this month, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. That’s less than a point away from a low in March 2000 — a figure that isn’t adjusted for a September 2018 index shift, which lifted the ratio by 5.1 points in just one day. Bespoke Investment Group LLC highlighted the comparison in a blog post Monday.
These are some of the main moves in markets:
Stocks
The S&P 500 climbed 0.7 per cent as of 2:55 p.m. New York time.
The Stoxx Europe 600 Index advanced 0.2 per cent.
The MSCI Asia Pacific Index dipped 0.9 per cent.
Currencies
The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index climbed 0.5 per cent.
The euro dipped 0.5 per cent to US$1.1716.
The Japanese yen weakened 0.3 per cent to 104.93 per dollar.
Bonds
The yield on 10-year Treasuries decreased less than one basis point to 0.66 per cent.
Germany’s 10-year yield advanced three basis points to -0.51 per cent.
Britain’s 10-year yield gained five basis points to 0.203 per cent.
Commodities
West Texas Intermediate crude advanced 0.1 per cent to US$39.33 a barrel.
Gold depreciated 0.4 per cent to US$1,904.41 an ounce.
Silver depreciated 1.1 per cent to US$24.45 per ounce.
