Stocks finished higher on Tuesday, marking a strong continuation of last week’s gains, as investors reacted to President Donald Trump’s return to office and the flurry of executive orders he signed following his inauguration.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose by 1.2%, the S&P 500 added 0.9%, and the Nasdaq Composite gained 0.6%. This followed a stellar performance last week, during which both the Dow and the S&P 500 saw their best weekly results since early November, just after the presidential election. (The U.S. stock market was closed on Monday for Martin Luther King Jr. Day.)
Among the executive actions signed by Trump after taking office, several had implications for businesses and the broader economy. These included steps aimed at addressing inflation, boosting energy innovation, and enforcing immigration laws. While Trump did not impose tariffs immediately as he had promised during his campaign, he hinted at potential 25% tariffs on imports from Mexico and Canada. He also revealed plans to establish an “External Revenue Service” to gather revenue from foreign sources, potentially increasing government coffers.
Shares of 3M (MMM) surged 4.2% to lead the Dow’s gainers after the company reported stronger-than-expected earnings. Schwab (SCHW), a key player in financial services, saw a 5.9% rise after posting robust quarterly results. Netflix (NFLX) gained 1.4% in anticipation of its earnings report later in the day.
Large-cap technology stocks, which had propelled last week’s rally, exhibited mixed performance. Apple (AAPL) dipped 3.2% following a downgrade from analysts at Jefferies, who set the stock to “underperform.” Tesla (TSLA) and Microsoft (MSFT) saw slight declines. However, Nvidia (NVDA) and Amazon (AMZN) both climbed over 2%, while other tech giants like Alphabet (GOOGL), Meta Platforms (META), and Broadcom (AVGO) also saw gains.
In notable tech moves, Oracle (ORCL) surged by 7.2% after it was confirmed that the company would be involved in a significant AI infrastructure initiative, part of an effort announced by the Trump administration. Intel (INTC) rose 1.3%, continuing last week’s rally amid ongoing speculation about a potential takeover of the chipmaker.
In the cryptocurrency space, Bitcoin traded at $106,100, recovering from an overnight low of $100,000. The digital currency had briefly surpassed $109,000 ahead of Trump’s inauguration, but dipped following his inaugural speech, which did not mention crypto. Bitcoin has surged roughly 50% since the election, fueled by expectations of a crypto-friendly administration that might adopt policies favorable to digital assets.
Treasury yields saw a slight decline, with the yield on the 10-year U.S. Treasury falling to 4.57%, down from 4.61% on Friday and marking its lowest point in two weeks. The drop was attributed to encouraging inflation data last week, which sparked optimism among investors that the Federal Reserve might lower interest rates in the near future.
Gold futures increased by 0.4%, reaching around $2,760 per ounce, while WTI crude oil futures dropped over 2%.
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