Wall Street hovers near records after Biden rebound by Reuters

By Devik Jain and Medha Singh

(Reuters) – Major Wall Street indices hit record highs Thursday as investors counted on more pandemic relief and rapid vaccine deployments under the Biden administration to support the economy after data slipped showed a weakening of the labor market recovery.

The number of Americans claiming unemployment benefits was 900,000 last week, according to the Labor Department report. The high reading was likely due to a relentless increase in COVID-19 cases across the country.

While the benchmark and blue chip Dow Jones were roughly flat at 10 a.m. ET after gaining in the past two sessions, shares of technology heavyweights Alphabet (NASDAQ 🙂 Inc, jumped up. Apple Inc (NASDAQ 🙂 and Amazon.com Inc (NASDAQ 🙂 raised the Nasdaq by 0.2%.

“Market prices are definitely right on target,” said Chris Osmond, chief investment officer at Prime Capital Investment Advisors in Overland Park, Kansas.

“If there are continuing incidents in the deployment of a vaccine, it could cause a bend in expectations. Further (the stimulus proposed by Biden) will face opposition not only from the Republican Party but from the Democrats moderate, which could also market anxiety. “

Democrats took control of the U.S. Senate on Wednesday, and Congressional Republicans have shown willingness to work on Biden’s $ 1.9 trillion stimulus package that would improve jobless benefits and provide direct checks to households.

President Joe Biden is expected to launch a series of initiatives during his early days in office, including ramping up testing and rolling out vaccines.

Three of S&P’s 11 sectors advanced early in the session, with communications services and consumer discretionary the most successful.

Energy, financials and industrials, which have helped the S&P 500 rebound 14% since the November 3 presidential election, fell between 0.3% and 1.3%.

With valuations close to a 20-year high, corporate results could present an important test of whether the stock rally has exceeded fundamentals.

Profits of S&P 500 companies are expected to rise 24% in 2021 after falling 15% in 2020, according to Refinitiv data as of January 15.

United Airlines Holdings (NASDAQ 🙂 Inc fell 5.2% after posting a fourth consecutive quarterly loss due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but said it intends to cut roughly $ 2 billion in annual costs until 2023.

Baker Hughes Co climbed 1.1% as he joined bigger rival Halliburton (NYSE 🙂 Co in saying the energy industry’s worst downturn in decades is expected to peak this year.

Pipeline operator Morgan Children Inc (NYSE 🙂 rose 1.2% after beating Wall Street estimates for quarterly results, although this raised concerns about the pace of spending surge in major U.S. shale basins after a rebound in oil prices.

Ford Motor (NYSE 🙂 Co jumped 3.6%, extending gains for second straight day after German Bank (DE 🙂 raised its price target for the US automaker’s share.