Stocks rose on Monday, recovering back some losses from last week's heightened volatility, as market participants seemed to look past concerns over the speculative retail trading frenzy that largely drove last week's market swings. Investors instead looked ahead to a week full of another round of corporate earnings and new Congressional stimulus talks.
GameStop (GME ), which lead the retail trading mania last week, fell as much as 34% on Monday, with its decline triggering a market circuit breaker earlier in the session. The stock had surged over 400% last week and over 1,600% for the month of January, bringing other heavily shorted stocks like AMC Entertainment (AMC ) higher with it.
Meanwhile, a group of 10 Republican senators sent a letter to President Joe Biden on Sunday, outlining a smaller coronavirus $618 billion relief package in response to Biden's $1.9 trillion plan. Notable highlights for the Republican proposal include reducing the size of direct payments to individuals to $1,000 from $1,400, extending $300 per week federal unemployment benefits through June 30 and putting aside $20 billion into a national vaccine program. Biden stated that he will meet with the senators to discuss the bill, but has signalled that he does not plan to sign off on an inadequate stimulus package.
Here's how the market settled to start the week:
S&P 500 Index (SPY ): +1.60% or +59.60 points to 3,773.84
Dow Jones Industrial Average (DIA ): +0.77% or +229.75 points to 30,212.37
Nasdaq Composite Index (QQQ ): +2.55% or +332.70 point sto 13,403.39
For Stocks, silver mining stocks soared higher on Monday on the metal's retail trader fuelled rally. Shares of miners like Coeur Mining (CDE ) Fortuna Silver Mines (FSM ) and Pan American Silver (PAAS ) each gained over 23%, 17% and 12%, respectively. Virgin Galactic (SPCE ) shares jumped nearly 21% on Monday, breaking over $50, after the space tourism company announced a new test flight to redo its failed December mission as early as Feb.13.
For Sector Performance, every sector on the S&P 500 rose into positive territory on Monday. Consumer Discretionary (XLY ), Information Technology (XLK ) and Real Estate (XLRE ) lead gains at over 2%, while Communication Services (XLC ), Materials (XLB ) and Financials (XLF ) all climbed above 1%.
For Commodities and Currency, Silver (SLV ) prices rose higher on Monday as online retail investors rallied behind the metal. Silver futures rose 8% to $29.06 per ounce, marking the largest one-day pop for the commodity since 2013. The U.S. Dollar (UUP ) climbed higher on Monday as the euro, Swiss franc, and Japanese yen all were pressured against the less-risky greenback. The dollar index, which tracks the currency against global rivals, rose 0.37% to 90.955. Gold (GLD ) prices edged higher on Monday as investors remained cautious towards the market's continued volatility. Spot gold gained 0.8% to $1,860.93 per ounce, while U.S. gold futures settled 0.7% higher at $1,863.90 per ounce. Crude oil futures rallied higher on Monday as winter fuel demand rose amid a heavy snowstorm hitting the U.S. Northeast. International benchmark Brent Crude (BNO ) was up 2.2% at $56.25 per barrel, while domestic index West Texas Intermediate (USO ) soared 2.59% higher at $53.55 each.
For Tuesday, traders will focus on the ongoing moves made by retail investors as well as corporate quarterly earnings from companies like Alphabet (GOOG ), Amazon (AMZN ), Alibaba (BABA ) and Pfizer (PFE ).