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Tech stocks rally as Yellen and Powell gear up to face inflation at Congress

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U.S. stock index futures were little changed during overnight trading on Monday after all three major averages posted gains during regular trading hours.

The Dow finished Monday’s session 103 points higher, for a gain of 0.32%. The S&P 500 broke a two-day losing streak and advanced 0.7%. The Nasdaq Composite was the relative outperformer, jumping 1.23% for its fifth positive session in six.

Tesla stock, Applied Materials and Nvidia led the stock market rally on Monday. Tesla and Nvidia both were up by nearly 2.5 % and Applied Materials by 4 %.

The gains came as the 10-year Treasury yield retreated, after touching a 14-month high last week.

Futures contracts tied to the Dow Jones Industrial Average advanced 16 points. S&P 500 futures were flat, while Nasdaq 100 futures slid 0.14%. Gold slipped 0.3% to $1,734 an ounce. West Texas Intermediate crude fell 1.1% to $60.91 a barrel.

Fed Chairman Jerome Powell and Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen are set to enter a heatedly partisan arena on Tuesday to kick-off two days of congressional hearings assessing the economic policy response to the Covid-19 crisis.

Tuesday also marks the one-year anniversary of the market’s bottom as the COVID pandemic sent stocks tumbling 30% at the fastest pace on record.

Less than two weeks after President Joe Biden signed a $1.9 trillion pandemic relief bill that failed to win a single Republican vote in Congress, the hearings will feature lawmakers positioning over the impact of the package.

Yellen is expected not only to highlight the improved economic outlook and dramatic expansion in help to households from the bill but also telegraph the need for more spending — partly paid for with higher taxes.

GOP members will assail the Democrats for piling on debt for a far-left agenda at a time when an economic rebound was already under way — risking a spike in inflation.

Powell, meantime, will be looking to stay out of the political crossfire while repeating his pledge to hold off on tightening monetary policy until deep into the recovery.

Meanwhile, the news is that White House officials are preparing to present President Biden with a roughly $3 trillion infrastructure and jobs package that includes high-profile domestic policy priorities such as free community college and universal prekindergarten, according to sources.

Although no final announcement has been made, the White House is expected to push multitrillion-dollar jobs and infrastructure plans as the centerpiece of the president’s “Build Back Better” agenda.

That effort is expected to be broken into two parts — one focused on infrastructure, and the other focused on other domestic priorities such as growing the newly expanded child tax credit for several years.

The sources, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe private conversations, stressed that planning was preliminary and subject to change.

Some aides said that the package’s final price tag is yet to be finalized.

 

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