S&P 500 Index opens modestly higher as focus shifts to Biden's stimulus package

Wall Street's main indexes are posting small gains on Thursday.
President-elect Joe Biden is expected to unveil coronavirus relief package.
S&P 500 Energy Index is up more than 1% after the opening bell.

Eren Sengezer FXStreet

Major equity indexes in the US opened modestly higher on Thursday as investors wait for President-elect Joe Biden to unveil his coronavirus relief package, which will be reportedly worth around $2 trillion.

As of writing, The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.25% at 31,140, the S&P 500 was gaining 0.17% at 3,816 and the Nasdaq Composite was advancing 0.26% at 13,008.

Earlier in the day, the data published by the US Department of Labor showed that the weekly Initial Jobless Claims increased by 181,000 to 965,000 last week. Although this reading came in much worse than analysts' estimate of 795,000, it doesn't seem to be having a negative impact on market sentiment.

Among the 11 major S&P 500 sectors, the Energy Index is the top performer in the early trade, gaining more than 1%. On the other hand, the defensive Utilities Index is losing 0.63%.

S&P 500 chart (daily)

Author

Eren Sengezer

FXStreet

As an economist at heart, Eren Sengezer specializes in the assessment of the short-term and long-term impacts of macroeconomic data, central bank policies and political developments on financial assets.

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