Wall Street opens higher as investors hopeful of more economic stimulus

The Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI rose 50.43 points, or 0.18%, at the open to 28,245.85.

Wall Street’s main indexes rose on Tuesday as investors hoped for more stimulus from Washington, with Senate Republicans preparing to vote on a bill to help small businesses hammered by the Covid-19 pandemic.

House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin will also talk again on Tuesday, after a 53-minute telephone conversation on Monday “continued to narrow their differences” about the coronavirus aid package, a Pelosi spokesman said on Twitter.

“The stimulus package seems to be the major fixation for investors right now — the idea of Republicans and Democrats agreeing on the next payments going forward,” said Rick Meckler, a partner at Cherry Lane Investments in New Vernon, New Jersey.

Uncertainty over the fiscal stimulus weighed on Wall Street’s main indexes on Monday and analysts expect market turbulence to increase with only two weeks left until Election Day.

Latest national opinion polls pointed to a victory for Democratic challenger Joe Biden, which would mean a cooling in global trade friction, but higher taxes for corporate America.

Meanwhile, the third-quarter earnings season has gathered momentum. Of the 50 S&P 500 companies that have reported results, 86 per cent have topped expectations for earnings, according to Refinitiv IBES data.

Property and casualty insurer Travelers Cos Inc TRV.N gained 3.3 per cent as it beat quarterly profit expectations, while consumer products giant Procter & Gamble Co PG.N advanced 1.9 per cent as it raised its full-year sales forecast.

All 11 major S&P sector were up in early trading with financials .SPNY tracking U.S. Treasury yields.

At 9:47 a.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI was up 177.90 points, or 0.63 per cent, at 28,373.32, the S&P 500 .SPX was up 23.91 points, or 0.70 per cent, at 3,450.83. The Nasdaq Composite .IXIC was up 70.89 points, or 0.62 per cent, at 11,549.77.

Netflix Inc NFLX.O dipped 0.2 per cent ahead of its third-quarter earnings report.

International Business Machines Corp IBM.N edged past estimates for quarterly revenue on Monday, bolstered by higher demand for its cloud services. The company's shares, however, fell 3.3 per cent after it stayed away from issuing a current-quarter forecast, citing economic uncertainty related to the pandemic.

The U.S. Justice Department and 11 states filed an antitrust lawsuit against Alphabet Inc's GOOGL.O Google for allegedly breaking the law in using its market power to fend off rivals. Alphabet's shares were up 0.9 per cent in morning trading.

Advancing issues outnumbered decliners 4.23-to-1 on the NYSE and 2.54-to-1 on the Nasdaq.

The S&P index recorded six new 52-week highs and one new low, while the Nasdaq recorded 28 new highs and 12 new lows.