Wall Street hovers near record highs after Biden’s recovery. By Reuters

By Devik Jain and Medha Singh

(Reuters) – Top Wall Street indices hovered close to record highs on Thursday, with investors looking forward to more pandemic relief and rapid vaccine launches under the Biden administration to support the economy after the data showed a weak recovery. of the labor market.

The number of Americans applying for unemployment insurance was 900,000 in the past week, said the Department of Labor report. The high reading was probably due to a relentless increase in COVID-19 cases across the country.

While the benchmark and Dow blue-chip were practically stagnant at around 10 am ET after winning the last two sessions, a jump in the stocks of Alphabet heavyweights (NASDAQ 🙂 Inc, Apple Inc (NASDAQ 🙂 and Amazon .com Inc (NASDAQ 🙂 raised Nasdaq by 0.2%.

“The markets are definitely priced perfectly,” said Chris Osmond, chief investment officer at Prime Capital Investment Advisors in Overland Park, Kansas.

“If there are ongoing setbacks in the launch of a vaccine, it can distort expectations. In addition (the stimulus proposed by Biden) will encounter opposition not only from the Republican party, but also from moderate Democrats, which can also cause some anxiety from the market. “

Democrats took control of the U.S. Senate on Wednesday and Republicans in Congress signaled their willingness to work on Biden’s $ 1.9 trillion stimulus plan, which would increase unemployment benefits and provide direct checks to families.

President Joe Biden is expected to launch a series of initiatives during his early days in office, including intensified testing and vaccine distribution.

Three of S & P’s 11 sectors increased at the start of the session, with discretionary communication services and consumer goods gaining more.

Energy, financial and industrial inventories, which have helped the S&P 500 rise 14% since the November 3 presidential election, fell between 0.3% and 1.3%.

With valuations close to the maximum in 20 years, corporate results can represent an important test of whether the stock market recovery has gone beyond the fundamentals.

Profits for S&P 500 companies are expected to increase 24% in 2021, after falling 15% in 2020, according to Refinitiv data on January 15.

United Airlines Holdings (NASDAQ 🙂 Inc fell 5.2% after recording a fourth consecutive quarterly loss due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but said it plans to cut about $ 2 billion in annual costs by 2023.

Baker Hughes Co rose 1.1% by joining rival Halliburton (NYSE 🙂 Co in saying that the worst slowdown in the energy sector in decades is likely to hit rock bottom this year.

Pipeline operator Kinder Morgan Inc (NYSE 🙂 rose 1.2% after beating Wall Street estimates for quarterly results, even raising concerns about the pace of rising spending in major U.S. shale basins after a rebound in oil prices.

Ford Motor (NYSE 🙂 Co jumped 3.6%, extending earnings for the second consecutive day after German bank (DE 🙂 raised the target price of the US automaker’s shares.