Dow closes up over 330 points for 3rd day of gains in a row as
U.S. stock benchmarks rose on Thursday for a third straight day, as lawmakers neared an agreement that would avert a debt-ceiling breach for at least two months.
Some investors attributed the market’s bullish complexion to optimism around job creation ahead of a closely watched labor-market report on Monday, which could influence markets for weeks to come.
What did the major indexes do?
-
The Dow Jones Industrial Average
DJIA,
-0.03%
closed up 337.95 points, or 1%, to 34,754.94. -
The S&P 500
SPX,
-0.19%
climbed 36.21 points, or 0.8%, to 4,399.76. -
The Nasdaq Composite
COMP,
-0.51%
finished up 152.10 points, or 1.1%, at 14,654.02.
On Wednesday, the Dow scored its biggest intraday comeback since December, erasing a loss of nearly 460 points to end with a gain of 102 points, or 0.3%. The S&P 500 rose 0.4% and the Nasdaq Composite gained 0.5%.
What’s drove the market?
Stocks extended early gains after Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-New York, said in a floor speech that top Democrats and Republicans in the chamber had reached an agreement to extend the debt ceiling through early December, and said that a deal could be completed “as soon as today.”
Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen had previously warned that a breach of the debt ceiling could occur Oct. 18 unless Congress took action.
Sen. Mitch McConnell, the minority leader and Kentucky Republican, had ended near-term worries around the debt ceiling on Wednesday by announcing that Republicans wouldn’t filibuster an increase. The move only gives two more months of breathing space, but lawmakers say that will provide enough time for crucial negotiations on spending to take place.
“Everyone blinked yesterday, as it became clear — once again — that the politicians, the Federal Reserve and the country’s business leaders will never allow the debt ceiling nonsense to threaten a U.S. default,” said Greg Valliere, chief U.S. policy strategist at AGF Investments, in a note.
On Wall Street, anticipation for Friday’s September jobs number grew as economists now expect that 500,000 new jobs were created for the month, an amount that would more than double the 235,000 job gain of August.
But some analysts are even more sanguine about Friday’s report.
“Expectations are for 500,000 jobs created in September’s nonfarm payroll report,” wrote OANDA’s Edward Moya in a note on Thursday. “But traders should not be surprised if that headline comes closer to a 1-million.”
At the same time, talks in Switzerland between U.S. and Chinese officials set the stage for reports that U.S. President Joe Biden and Chinese leader Xi Jinping will meet virtually before the end of the year. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng
HSI,
stock index surged 3.1%, its strongest one-day surge since July 29.
Energy prices also…
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