Wall Street climbed, with the S&P 500 closing at a record high, as investors awaited cues from the Federal Reserve amid caution over rising borrowing costs spurred by massive fiscal stimulus.
In a concrete sign that the worst of the damage from the pandemic may be over for the airline industry, Delta Air Lines, Southwest Airlines and JetBlue Airways said leisure bookings were rising. The S&P 1500 airlines index jumped to a one-year high. Other travel-related stocks, including Carnival Corp, Wynn Resorts and MGM Resorts also gained. Most of the 11 major S&P sector indexes rose which are led by utilities and real estate.
The congressional approval of a $1.9 trillion aid bill accelerated demand for stocks. The Russell growth index outperformed the Russell value index in a modest reversal of investors’ recent trend away from technology and other high-growth stocks. Greg Bassuk, CEO of AXS Investments said that with the vaccines and other improving situations in this pandemic they think there will continue to be a fair amount of rotation out of the stay-at-home stocks.
The policymakers are expected to forecast that the U.S. economy will grow in 2021 at its fastest rate in decades while reiterating their dovish stance for the foreseeable future. Wall Street has been roiled in recent weeks by a spike in longer-dated U.S. bond yields due to fears of an increase in inflation. Tesla rose after the company added “Technoking of Tesla” to Chief Executive Elon Musk’s list of official titles.
