Stocks Fall Despite Wall St Stimulus Hope; Dollar Flat

A Wall Street Journal report that House of Representatives Democrats were readying a $2.4 trillion stimulus package added to hopes after Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said hundreds of billions of dollars in unused coronavirus aid funds could be reallocated to help U.S. households and businesses.

Even so, Wall Street’s largest companies, some of which have outperformed at a time of increased economic uncertainty, took the lead in pushing indexes higher. The tech sector was the S&P 500’s strongest performer.

“Investors are going to be needing stocks that can weather a lower growth path because if we don’t get another round of fiscal stimulus, there’s not going to be a lot more we can do to continue boosting the economic recovery,” said Max Gokhman, capital markets strategist at Pacific Life Fund Advisors.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 52.57 points, or 0.2%, to 26,815.7, the S&P 500 gained 8.84 points, or 0.27%, to 3,245.76, and the Nasdaq Composite added 43.86 points, or 0.41%, to 10,676.84.