Wall Street Opens Higher as Bond Jitters Ease; Dow up By Investing.com

By Geoffrey Smith 

Investing.com — U.S. stock markets opened sharply higher on Monday after the easing of jitters in bond markets over the first signs of inflation in the post-Covid economy. 

By 9:40 AM ET (1440 GMT), the was up 510 points, or 1.7%, at 31,442 points. The and the were both up 1.6%. All three indexes had retreated last week amid fears that the Federal Reserve and other central banks could be stampeded into cutting monetary policy support for the economy, due to inflationary pressures. The jitters that sent bond yields to their highest in over a year were in turn fed by higher commodity prices and the prospect of heavy U.S. Treasury issuance after the administration’s $1.9 trillion stimulus package passed through the House of Representatives. 

Aiding the tone was the approval for emergency use against Covid-19 of Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:)’s single-shot vaccine. The drug should accelerate the spread of immunity through the U.S. population and facilitate the quick reopening of the economy. J&J stock rose 1.7%, but appears still to be in a downward trend after authorization was fully discounted by the market in the previous weeks. 

Boeing (NYSE:) stock was an early gainer, rising 5.6% after United Airlines (NASDAQ:) bolstered an order for 737 MAX planes. That accounted for some of what has now become a familiar pattern of outperformance by ‘value’ stocks over the tech-focused growth stocks that dominated last year’s rally.