Stocks rose higher on Tuesday, recovering from sharper losses on Monday, as investors bet on a stronger global economic recovery moving into 2021. However, sentiment was still shaky due to the Georgia Senate runoff elections and worsening global coronavirus trends.

The Georgia Senate elections will determine which political party will have control over the chamber and the balance of power in Congress. Since the U.S. presidential election, market participants have assumed that Republicans will maintain control of the Senate, which would limit President-elect Joe Biden's progressive policies like raising corporate taxes and the federal minimum wage, as well as climate change reforms, which would affect various parts of the market. However, under a Democrat controlled Congress, a larger additional economic stimulus is likely in the near-term, which will boost economic recovery.

Elsewhere, concerns surrounding the coronavirus are rising, with U.S. cases surging to all-time highs amid a slower-than-expected vaccine rollout. Globally, countries like the United Kingdom have entered new periods of lockdown to help control the outbreak of a new, more contagious coronavirus variant. The variant first identified in the U.K. has been discovered to be circulating in New York, California, Colorado and Florida.

Here's how the market settled on Tuesday:

S&P 500 Index (SPY  ): +0.71% or +26.21 points to 3,726.86

Dow Jones Industrial Average (DIA  ): +0.55% or +167.71 points to 30,391.60

Nasdaq Composite Index (QQQ  ): +0.95% or +120.51 points to 12,818.96

For Stocks, China Mobile (CHL  ), China Telecom (CHJHF  ), and China Unicom (CHU  ) all rose higher after the New York Stock Exchange announced it no longer plans to delist the stocks from the exchange. Oil giants--Chevron (CVX  ), Exxon Mobil (XOM  ) and Diamondback Energy (FANG  )--all soared after West Texas Intermediate futures broke above $50 for the first time since February, signaling demand recovery from the pandemic's lows.

For Sector Performance, every sector expect Real Estate (XLRE  ) rose into positive territory. Energy (XLE  ) soared the most, rising over 4.5%, with other major gains coming from Materials (XLB  ) and Industrials (XLI  ) increasing over 1%.

For Commodities and Currencies, the U.S. Dollar (UUP  ) fell against other global currencies as U.S. political anxiety washed over sentiment ahead of the runoff election results. The dollar index, which tracks the greenback against other global currencies, slipped 0.486% to 89.429. Bitcoin traded as high as $34,077.96 on Tuesday after falling as low as $27,734 on Monday following its weekend rally record high of $34,800. Gold (GLD  ) rose to a two-year high on Tuesday as a weaker dollar and growing political uncertainty led investors towards safer bets. Spot gold gained 0.4% to $1,950.34 per ounce, while U.S. gold futures settled 0.3% higher at $1,952.50 per ounce. Crude oil futures rose on Tuesday, with West Texas Intermediate rising to a pandemic-era high of $50 per barrel following Saudi Arabia's announcement that the nation will cut crude outputs by 1 million barrels per day beginning in February. International benchmark Brent Crude (BNO  ) climbed 4.9% to $53.60 per barrel, while domestic benchmark West Texas Intermediate (USO  ) settled 4.85% higher at $49.93 each, after rising more than 5% to $50.20 each earlier in the session.

For the mid-week, market participants will react to the outcome of the Georgia runoff election, as well as the ADP employment report for December and the Federal Open Market Committee's minutes from its last meeting.