Monday, March 1, 2021

A Chance to Exhale

 

By Alex Eule |  Monday, March 1

Yielding Gains. The inflation fears that have gripped the market in recent weeks seems to have let up for now, with bond yields falling for a second consecutive day. The 10-year Treasury yield has fallen to 1.44% over the last two days, after hitting a 52-week high of 1.51% last Thursday. That's not a small move in the world of Treasury bonds, and it has caused growth investors to exhale.

The Nasdaq Composite jumped 3%, thanks to a recovery in high-priced tech stocks that had been crushed by those rising rates. Shares of Apple rose 5.4% on the day, while Tesla was up 6.4%. Stay-at-home stalwart Zoom Video rose nearly 10% on the day. (It was up another 9% in late trading after the video conferencing company reported better-than-expected fourth-quarter earnings.)

Often in the recent past, a big day for tech stocks meant investors were hiding from the more economically sensitive re-opening plays. But today even those stocks were doing fairly well. The NYSE Arca Airline Index rose nearly 4% this morning, before closing up 1.1%. Department stores Nordstrom and Kohl's rose 4.1% and 3%, respectively.

The re-opening plays got a boost from the U.S. approval of Johnson & Johnson's one-shot Covid-19 vaccine, giving the country a third vaccination choice. The distribution efforts were already under way by this morning.

While the vaccine is restoring hopes of travel, investors are also anticipating the economic boom from another Covid stimulus bill, which could pass Congress in short order. On Sunday, Democrats decided to drop the minimum-wage increase component of the bill. A version being debated by the Senate would still put another $1,400 into the hands of many American consumers, while extending unemployment benefits and sending significant aide to state and local governments. 

The broad-based S&P 500 rose 2.4% on the day, its best one-day performance since last June. Some 460 stocks in the index finished in positive territory on the day. 

 

 


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