Stock Market Today: Signed Stimulus Bill Sends Stocks Through the Roof
President Donald Trump pulled an abrupt 180 on his stimulus stoppage Sunday, sending equity investors into a buying mood Monday.
The major indices jumped out of the gate Monday and finished at fresh all-time highs as 2020 continues to pull every last trick from its hat before it fades into history.
This time, it was a game of "now you see it, now you don't" with federal stimulus funds.
After creating suspense that Washington's latest stimulus package might stall, President Donald Trump gave up his surprise protest and signed the $900 billion COVID rescue bill Sunday – mind you, after about 14 million Americans' unemployment benefits lapsed, forcing the Labor Department to scramble to keep those people from losing a week's worth of benefits to start the new year.
Sign up for Kiplinger’s Free E-Newsletters
Profit and prosper with the best of expert advice on investing, taxes, retirement, personal finance and more - straight to your e-mail.
Profit and prosper with the best of expert advice - straight to your e-mail.
But it was more than enough to keep Wall Street juiced, including many of its largest members: Apple (AAPL, +3.6%), Amazon.com (AMZN, +3.5%), Disney (DIS, +3.0%) and Facebook (FB, +3.6%) all put up robust gains Monday.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average (+0.7% to 30,403), S&P 500 (+0.9% to 3,735) and Nasdaq Composite (+0.7% to 12,899) all advanced to record closes.
Other action in the stock market today:
- The small-cap Russell 2000 declined 0.4% to 1,996.
- U.S. crude oil futures dipped 1.3% to settle at $47.62 per barrel.
- Gold futures slipped 0.1% to $1,880.40 per ounce.
Tech: Still a Good Bet in 2021?
The technology sector, which has heated up of late, is on pace to finish 2020 as the year's best sector by far. At 42% gains year-to-date, it's 15.4 percentage points ahead of the second-place consumer discretionary sector.
While that has resulted in some truly paunchy valuations, and while many analysts are calling for a rotation into value and cyclical sectors in the year to come, many pros are still bullish on technology as we head into 2021.
LPL Financial, for instance, says in its 2021 outlook that "we view technology companies as big beneficiaries of a split Congress, as the regulatory environment was expected to be much tougher in a Democratic-sweep scenario."
If you believe technology still has room to run but want to hedge your bets a little, you can always focus on funds. These 15 technology-specific ETFs help spread out the risk, or you could take it a step further with funds invested in the Nasdaq-100 – a tech-heavy index that also has some exposure to other sectors such as communications and consumer stocks.
But if you want to generate serious outperformance in the high-growth tech sector and can shoulder the risk, individual stocks remain the way to go. We've recently picked the pros' brains for their top 2021 tech picks, and the result is this list of 15 of the highest-ranked technology plays on the market. Discover what makes each of them stand out, even after many have already rocketed higher in 2020.
Disclaimer
Kyle Woodley was long AMZN as of this writing.
Get Kiplinger Today newsletter — free
Profit and prosper with the best of Kiplinger's advice on investing, taxes, retirement, personal finance and much more. Delivered daily. Enter your email in the box and click Sign Me Up.
Kyle Woodley is the Editor-in-Chief of WealthUp, a site dedicated to improving the personal finances and financial literacy of people of all ages. He also writes the weekly The Weekend Tea newsletter, which covers both news and analysis about spending, saving, investing, the economy and more.
Kyle was previously the Senior Investing Editor for Kiplinger.com, and the Managing Editor for InvestorPlace.com before that. His work has appeared in several outlets, including Yahoo! Finance, MSN Money, Barchart, The Globe & Mail and the Nasdaq. He also has appeared as a guest on Fox Business Network and Money Radio, among other shows and podcasts, and he has been quoted in several outlets, including MarketWatch, Vice and Univision. He is a proud graduate of The Ohio State University, where he earned a BA in journalism.
You can check out his thoughts on the markets (and more) at @KyleWoodley.
-
Holiday Office Party Taxes: Know Before You Go
Tax Tips The IRS could tax your gifts from Christmas raffles, Secret Santa, and White Elephant. Here’s how.
By Kate Schubel Published
-
2025 Tax Reform: Will the SALT Deduction Cap Be Repealed?
Tax Deductions Some lawmakers say it’s time to end the $10,000 cap on state and local tax deductions.
By Kelley R. Taylor Published
-
Stock Market Today: Stocks Are Positively Mixed to Open December
Technology led the way Monday as two of the three main equity indexes closed higher.
By David Dittman Published
-
Stock Market Today: Dow, S&P 500 Hit New Highs on Black Friday
Sentiment was bullish on the final trading session of November, with chip stocks leading the charge.
By Karee Venema Published
-
Stock Market Today: Stocks Rally Despite Rising Geopolitical Tension
The main indexes were mixed on Tuesday but closed well off their lows after an early flight to safety.
By David Dittman Published
-
Stock Market Today: Stocks Slip After Powell Talks Rate Cuts
The main indexes closed lower Thursday after Fed Chair Powell said there's no rush to cut rates.
By Karee Venema Published
-
Disney Stock Sails to the Top of the Dow After Earnings. Is It Time to Buy?
Walt Disney stock is higher Thursday after the entertainment giant beat earnings expectations and issued a strong outlook. Here's what Wall Street is saying.
By Joey Solitro Published
-
Why Is Warren Buffett Selling So Much Stock?
Berkshire Hathaway is dumping equities, hoarding cash and making market participants nervous.
By Dan Burrows Published
-
Stock Market Today: Stocks Slip Ahead of Election Day, Fed Decision
Post-earnings strength from Amazon and Intel helped cushion the blow of a disappointing October jobs report.
By David Dittman Published
-
Stock Market Today: Dow Climbs 288 Points After Amazon, Intel Earnings
Post-earnings strength from Amazon and Intel helped cushion the blow of a disappointing October jobs report.
By Karee Venema Published