BackEarnings, Microsoft boost Wall Street despite stalemate in Congress on relief
Microsoft jumped 3.7% as it said it would push ahead with talks to acquire the US operations of Chinese-owned TikTokFaltering macroeconomic data and a gridlock on more government stimulus have made investors cautious again
PremiumWall Street's main indexes rose on Monday as Microsoft's pursuit of TikTok's U.S. operations and a clutch of upbeat quarterly earnings reports while shrugging off a congressional stalemate on new government relief measures.
A rally in tech-related stocks and historic stimulus have lifted the S&P 500 to within 4% of its peak, but faltering macroeconomic data and a gridlock on more government stimulus have made investors cautious again.
About 30 minutes into trading, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.8 percent at 26,645.78.
The broad-based S&P 500 also gained 0.8 percent to 3,297.97, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index jumped 1.4 percent to 10,896.85.
A partisan fight in Washington has thrown into doubt the prospects for extending $600 per week supplemental unemployment benefits, a key element of economic support since March that has now expired.
But Briefing.com analyst Patrick O'Hare said the aggressive actions from the Federal Reserve have helped offset worries about a weakening economy due to the coronavirus and other concerns.
"The stock market has remained quick to buy on weakness, and, in many cases buy on the momentum of a winning trade," O'Hare said.
This week's calendar includes earnings from Disney, as well as the July employment report, which will provide a window into the extent that the US coronavirus resurgence of recent weeks has dragged down the economy.
After a tech-heavy week of earnings, investors are gearing up for reports from Walt Disney Co, T-Mobile US , Activision and American International Group .
Among individual companies, Microsoft jumped 3.9 percent after announcing that Chief Executive Satya Nadella had talked with US President Donald Trump about acquiring video-sharing app TikTok, which Trump views as national security threat.
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This story has been published from a wire agency feed without modifications to the text. Only the headline has been changed.
