US equities gained for a second consecutive trading session on Wed, helped by some upbeat economic data. Investors are also still hoping that US President Joe Biden’s US$2t economic agenda can get done in Jan.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 261.19 pts, or 0.74%, to close at 35,753.89. The broader S&P 500 index rose 1.02%. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite advanced 1.18%. The small cap Russell 2000 climbed 0.86%.
Tesla’s (TSLA US, +7.49%) shares gained on Wed after its CEO Elon Musk said he has sold enough shares to reach a targeted 10% cut in his stake.
The 10-year Treasury note yield slipped 1.02 basis points (bps) to 1.4515%.
The most actively traded US gold futures (Feb) contracts settled up $13.50, or 0.8%, at US$1,802.20/oz.
March silver, which is the most actively traded silver futures, rose 29 cents, or 1.3%, to end at US$22.819/oz.
The ICE dollar index (DXY), which measures the strength of the greenback against a basket of currencies, fell 0.43% to 96.076.
The front-month Brent and WTI futures closed up $1.31 at US$75.29/bbl and $1.64 at US$72.76/bbl respectively.
European equity markets finished higher on Wed. The UK FTSE gained 0.61%, France's CAC 40 rose 1.24%, while the German DAX advanced 0.95%.