US stocks climbed to record highs on Monday as a sharp surge in US employment growth last month raised expectations for a swift economic recovery from the pandemic.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 400 points to an all-time high. The S&P 500 gained 1.5% to hit a new intraday record after closing above 4,000 for the first time on Thursday. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite also gained 1.4%.
The Labor Department reported Friday that the number of non-farm workers rose by 916,000 in March, the highest since August 2020, while the unemployment rate fell to 6%. Economists polled by Dow Jones expected an increase of 675,000 and an unemployment rate of 6%.
“This reflects the removal of restrictions, the surge in vaccinations and the boost from fiscal stimulus,” said Anu Gaggar, senior global investment analyst for Commonwealth Financial Network. “Faster jobs and wage growth can put upward pressure on prices and test the Fed’s patience with simple monetary policy.”
Tesla stock rose more than 5% as the electric vehicle company reported production and delivery numbers that far exceeded expectations.
GameStop shares erased their previous losses and turned positive after the video game retailer announced it was selling up to $ 1 billion worth of shares.
Classic reopening games like airlines and cruise lines outperformed. American Airlines and United were up more than 4% each, while Carnival and Norwegian Cruise Line were up 5.9% and 7.8%, respectively.
The stock market builds on its recent strength after President Joe Biden unveiled his multi-billion dollar infrastructure proposal, which focuses on rebuilding roads, bridges and airports, expanding broadband access and promoting the use of electric vehicles, and upgrading the country’s power grid . The plan will be funded in part by increasing the corporate tax rate to 28%.
Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen on Monday will press for a global minimum tax to discourage companies from moving to find lower tax rates. This emerges from a report from Axios, confirmed by CNBC. Yellen will address a conference for the Chicago Council on Global Affairs this morning.
However, Biden’s plan has met resistance from Republicans as the $ 2 trillion plan includes initiatives that they say go beyond traditional infrastructure problems.
Missouri Republican Senator Roy Blunt on Sunday called on the Biden administration to scale back the package to around $ 615 billion and focus on physical infrastructure like roads and airports.
Senate Minority Chairman Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., Said last week that Biden’s plan would not receive Republican support and vowed to go against the broader Democratic agenda.
In the pandemic area, the US reported another daily record of new Covid vaccinations on Saturday, bringing the weekly average of new vaccinations per day to over 3 million.