The S&P 500 fluctuated within half a percentage point of a record on Tuesday, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite climbed to an all-time high as Bitcoin made an intraday comeback.
The blue-chip Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 20 points after posting its best day since March. The S&P 500 was recently up 0.4% and was only 0.4% below its all-time high. The Nasdaq offset previous losses and rose 0.5% to hit a new intraday record.
Bitcoin is in the middle of a wild session where it briefly fell below $ 30,000 and then went green that day. Sometime on Tuesday, the world’s largest cryptocurrency wiped out the 2021 gains. Tesla, a Bitcoin holder, spun 1% higher as the digital token hit its lowest point.
Alphabet shares traded a little lower after the European Commission opened an investigation into Google’s advertising division.
On Monday, the blue-chip Dow gained 580 points for its best day since March 5, as stocks tied to the economic recovery after last week’s sell-off driven by updated Federal Reserve forecasts for inflation and Interest rate hikes were triggered, bounced back.
“This is a precarious time – stocks have had a relatively long time without a major sell-off, and sensitivity to every comment the Fed has increased as it tries to move towards the beginning of normalization,” said Invesco chief global markets strategist Kristina Hooper said in a note.
Fed chief Jerome Powell will testify in front of the House of Representatives on Tuesday about the central bank’s response to the pandemic. His remarks, released ahead of Monday evening’s hearing, should support the notion that the Fed is ready to start discussing soon the scrapping of some of its unprecedented stimulus measures taken during the pandemic.
“Since our last meeting, the economy has improved sustainably,” Powell will say, according to a Fed announcement on Tuesday. “The widespread vaccination, along with unprecedented monetary and fiscal measures, has been a major contributor to the recovery. Activity and employment indicators have continued to strengthen, and real GDP appears to be well on track this year to show its fastest increase in decades. “
“Inflation has increased significantly in the past few months,” Powell will say. The Fed chief will note, however, that most of these effects are temporary and inflation should settle back at 2% in the long term.
Powell’s testimony begins at 2 p.m. ET.
