Wall Street ended sharply higher on Monday, fueled by expectations of a coronavirus relief package and by a rally in Amazon, Apple and other technology stocks ahead quarterly earnings season, Trend reports citing Reuters.
Apple Inc jumped 6.4%, adding $128 billion to its stock market value, ahead of an event on Tuesday, when it is expected to unveil its newest iPhones.
Amazon rallied 4.8% ahead of its annual Prime Day shopping event on Oct. 13 and 14. Microsoft jumped 2.6%, helping lift the S&P 500 information technology index 2.7%.
The S&P 500 was about 1% below its record closing high from Sept. 2, nearly recovering from most of a 9% pullback last month.
Optimistic sentiment dominated after the Trump administration on Sunday called on Congress to pass a stripped-down coronavirus relief bill as negotiations on a broader package ran into resistance.
Many investors view Democratic candidate Joe Biden as more likely to raise taxes, and for months have seen a second term for Trump, who favors deregulation, as better for the overall stock market.
However, with growing expectations of a Democratic win in next month’s presidential election, investors are increasingly pointing to potential benefits of a Biden presidency, such as greater infrastructure spending and less global trade uncertainty.