Monday’s Stock Market Open: US Equities Rise As Washington Lawmakers Wrangle Over New Stimulus Bill

U.S. stocks rose on Monday as lawmakers continued to debate over details of the next COVID-19 relief package.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 142.84 points to 26,571.16, while the S&P 500 rose 19.72 points to 3,290.84 and the Nasdaq Composite Index climbed 108.5 points to 10,851.07.

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo warned that the Trump administration will soon impose measures against “a broad array” of Chinese-owned software that are considered to pose national security risks.

Investor focus has now shifted to Washington, where lawmakers are wrangling over a new COVID-19 relief stimulus bill. Republican and Democratic lawmakers are especially at odds over the size of the next weekly unemployment benefits check – Democrats favor a continuation of the $600 figure but Republicans seek a reduction to $200. Both sides agree on another round of $1,200 stimulus checks.

“Increased unemployment claims and decreasing consumer confidence show some deterioration of the U.S. consumer backdrop,” wrote Dennis DeBusschere, market strategist at Evercore ISI. “If an agreement to extend unemployment support passes soon, the nascent cyclical/risk-on rally from earlier in July can continue. Until then, risk-on factors will face headwinds despite the sharp decline in COVID net hospitalizations.”

Traders will also look at this Friday’s jobs report.

“There is going to be a recovery – we shouldn’t lose track of that as we go through this period,” Anne Anderson, head of fixed income at UBS Asset Management Australia, told Bloomberg. “But returning to where we were before we started is going to be a real challenge and is going to require ongoing monetary and fiscal support. It’s a long way out of here.”

Overnight in Asia markets finished mixed, as China’s Shanghai Composite index rose 1.75%; Japan’s Nikkei-225 gained 2.24%; and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng exchange dropped 0.56%.

In Europe markets traded higher, as Britain’s FTSE-100 rose 1.5%; France’s CAC-40 gained 1.67% and Germany’s DAX jumped 2.38%.

Crude oil futures edged up 0.5% at $40.47 per barrel, Brent crude rose 0.53% at $43.75. Gold futures slipped 0.02%.

The euro fell 0.68% at $1.1701 while the pound sterling dropped 0.56% at $1.3012.