The S&P 500 was up 0.4% in afternoon trading, after briefly turning negative, as investors handicap the chances of a deal to send more cash to Americans, restore jobless benefits for laid-off workers and deliver assistance to airlines and other industries hit particularly hard by the pandemic.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 17 points, less than 0.1%, at 27,802, as of
The market was once again moving erratically. The Dow had been up 259 points earlier and down as many as 112. Such moves have become typical recently, with several big shifts in momentum pushing markets around within a day.
Data reports released in the morning painted a mixed picture on the economy, which also added to the market's sloshing around. One indicated the pace of layoffs across the country may have slowed last week, with the number of workers filing for unemployment benefits falling to 837,000 from 873,000. It’s a larger decline than economists expected, though the number remains incredibly high compared with before the pandemic.
“We’re certainly expecting the employment situation to slowly improve,” said
But other reports showed that personal incomes weakened by more than expected and that growth in the country's manufacturing sector fell short of forecasts.
Other warning signs are also looming for the economy, which has seen some slowdowns recently after the last round of stimulus approved by
The CEO of
Rising and falling hopes for a deal on
“The market, for lack of really anything else to trade off of, has responded to these headlines on the potential for stimulus,” Wren said.
Treasury Secretary
The pair have worked effectively together in the past, and they helped drive through the previous economic rescue approved by
The yield on the 10-year
In Asian markets, trading on the
TSE President
The outage on the exchange eclipsed Japan’s main economic news of the day, the first improvement in manufacturing sentiment in three years, despite the pandemic.
Trading in stock markets for
In
AP Business Writer
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