Stocks closed slightly higher on Tuesday as the major benchmarks pared Monday's session losses. Interest rates drove the market, reaching their highest levels since March as traders continued to bet on additional near-term coronavirus stimulus under the Biden administration and a Democratic-controlled Congress.
Rising to its highest level since March, the benchmark 10-year note yield rose to a session high of 1.187%, before settling down to 1.13%. The 30-yield bond rate also climbed at pre-pandemic March levels at 1.88%.
Here's how the market settled on Tuesday:
S&P 500 Index (SPY ): +0.04% or +1.58 points to 3,801.19
Dow Jones Industrial Average (DIA ): +0.19% or +60.00 points to 31,068.69
Nasdaq Composite Index (QQQ ): +0.28% or +36.00 points to 13,072.43
For Stocks, General Motors (GM ) soared on Tuesday after the automaker announced plans to launch an all-electric van this year, as well as plans for a flying car at CES 2021. Bank stocks like Goldman Sachs (GS ), JPMorgan Chase (JPM ) and Bank of America (BAC ) and financial services companies like Charles Schwab (SCHW ) rose alongside increasing interest rates. Twitter (TWTR ) and Facebook (FB ) continue to slide lower following their decision to remove President Donald Trump's personal accounts from their platforms. Twitter has fallen 8.6% so far is week, while Facebook has lost 6.2%.
For Sector Performance, sectors on the S&P 500 ended Tuesday's session mixed with gains and losses. Energy (XLE ) was the leader in performance gains, rising over 3.5%, while Materials (XLB ), Consumer Discretionary (XLY ), Financials (XLF ), and Industrials (XLI ) climbed over 1%. Meanwhile, Health Care (XLV ) and Communication Services (XLC ) slipped over 1%.
For Commodities and Currencies, the U.S. Dollar (UUP ) slipped lower on Tuesday despite U.S. Treasury yields continuing to climb as its recent rally lost momentum. The dollar index, which measures the greenback against other global currencies, slid 0.11% lower at 90.38. Bitcoin continued to fall from its Monday slump, with the digital currency falling as low as 7% amid a highly volatile session. Gold (GLD ) price rose slightly higher on the falling U.S. dollar and gained support as an inflation hedge against possible inflation. Spot gold was up 0.2% at $1,848.31 per ounce, while U.S. gold futures settled 0.4% lower at $1,844.20 per ounce. Crude oil futures rose to February 2020 highs on Tuesday as tighter global supply expectations outweighed resurging coronavirus demand concerns. International benchmark Brent Crude (BNO ) settled 1.4% higher at $56.44 per barrel after earlier reaching its highest level since last February at $56.75 each. Domestic benchmark West Texas Intermediate (USO ) also reached pre-pandemic highs, settling 1.8% higher at $53.21 per barrel.
For Wednesday, market participants will focus on the ongoing governmental developments in Washington as well as an array of economic reports including fresh data on consumer price indexes, the federal budget, and the release of the Federal Reserve's beige book.
