S&P 500, Dow rise as Powell, Yellen signal confidence in recovery
On Wednesday, the S&P 500 and Dow rose due to a surge in financial and industrial stocks that are linked to the economy. This was in response to the optimistic outlook of a recovery from the coronavirus pandemic given by Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell and Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen. Yellen also indicated that U.S. banks are healthy enough to pay dividends and repurchase stock. Additionally, data showed that U.S. factory activity increased in early March with strong growth in new orders. However, supply chain disruptions are still causing cost pressures for manufacturers, keeping inflation fears in focus. David Yepez, lead equity analyst and portfolio manager at Exencial Wealth Advisors, commented that the market needs more fear in order to bottom out. Financials and industrials rose by 1.5%, while energy stocks jumped 3% as crude prices rebounded. Facebook, Apple, Microsoft, and Amazon all dropped 0.6%, while Intel edged 0.1% higher. Bitcoin gained 3% after Tesla announced that its electric vehicles can now be bought using the cryptocurrency. GameStop shares fell 13% after the company said it may use its meteoric rise in share price to fund its e-commerce expansion.0
