- US stocks ended higher Monday, retracing early losses to end in the green.
- The S&P 500 rose with help from the financial sector as regional banks gained.
- Talks aimed at breaking the debt-ceiling stalemate in Washington are set to start again Tuesday.
US stocks finished higher Monday as investors pushed past House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy's assessment that prospects of reaching an deal to raise the US debt ceiling appeared dim as a deadline approached.
The S&P 500 logged its first win after two losing sessions and following two back-to-back weekly declines. The financial sector was the top-performing with hard-hit regional bank stocks including PacWest continuing to recover from this year's sharp losses.
Stocks swung lower as trading got under way after House Speaker Kevin McCarthy said on CNN he was "far apart" from President Joe Biden in reaching a deal to raise the country's $31 trillion debt limit. Republicans are seeking spending cuts while Biden has been pushing for a so-called clean bill. Talks to break the stalemate were set to resume on Tuesday.
The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office projects the government will run out of money to pay its bills in early June if the limit isn't raised.
Here's where US indexes stood at the 4:00 p.m. closing bell on Monday:
- S&P 500: 4,136.28, up 0.3%
- Dow Jones Industrial Average: 33,348.60, up 0.14% (47.98 points)
- Nasdaq Composite: 12,365.21, up 0.66%
The Treasury Department said it's facing a June 1 deadline, that if missed, means it would be forced to delay or even miss bond payments, which is unprecedented.
"Leading up to that point, we expect risk assets to undergo a period of heightened volatility amid a flurry of headlines on progress (or lack thereof) toward a compromise that would avert a U.S. default," Saira Malik, chief investment officer at Nuveen, in a note Monday.
"We think a deal will ultimately be hammered out by the deadline, even if it's a short-term fix that kicks a more "permanent" solution down the road. In the meantime, it would be prudent for investors to prepare for a less favorable outcome by positioning their portfolios to better weather the potential storm," wrote Malik.
Here's what else is happening today:
- George Soros' fund dumped its entire Tesla stake in the first quarter - cashing out on the EV's maker's 2023 rebound.
- Billionaire investor Paul Tudor Jones says artificial intelligence will drive a productivity boom in the economy that will keep stocks soaring for years to come.
- There are three "creative" options the Treasury has if lawmakers can't reach a deal to raise the debt ceiling.
- Nobel economist Paul Krugman warns of cascading chaos in financial markets if the US defaults on its debt
- 'Big Short' investor Michael Burry plowed into First Republic, PacWest, and other ailing bank stocks last quarter.
- Taylor Swift showed her financial savvy when she avoided an FTX deal, an elite investor says.
- Ray Dalio's Bridgewater fund ditched GameStop and AMC last quarter - while Jim Simons' RenTech bet on Tesla and Bed Bath & Beyond.
- Tech stocks aren't immune to economic pain - and could be the next domino to fall, Morgan Stanley advisor says.
In commodities, bonds, and crypto:
- West Texas Intermediate crude rose 1.6% to $71.15 per barrel. Brent crude, the international benchmark, picked up 1.4% to $75.23.
- Gold edged up $0.90 to $2,020.70 per ounce.
- The 10-year Treasury yield gained four basis points to 3.506%.
- Bitcoin tacked on 1.8% to trade at $27,443.10.
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