U.S. markets and stock exchange traded funds pared early Wednesday morning losses ahead of a vote to impeach President Donald Trump in his final week in office.
On Wednesday, the Invesco QQQ Trust (NASDAQ: QQQ) rose 0.8%, SPDR Dow Jones Industrial Average ETF (NYSEArca: DIA) was up 0.2%, and iShares Core S&P 500 ETF (NYSEArca: IVV) gained 0.4%.
House lawmakers will vote Wednesday on impeaching the president for the second time, the Wall Street Journal reports.
“Markets are going to remain choppy for a while, but through it all, we remain cautiously optimistic,” Altaf Kassam, head of investment strategy for State Street Global Advisors in Europe, told the WSJ. “The amount of fiscal stimulus that is possible will protect risky assets, and there is still a lot of cash on the sidelines.”
While the political hoopla weighed on sentiment over the past week, money managers are still focused on the potential for additional fiscal stimulus under the incoming Biden administration.
“The market is largely focusing on the fundamentals around a Biden administration,” Willem Sels, global chief investment officer at HSBC Private Banking, told the WSJ.
Meanwhile, the rise in coronavirus cases remains a lingering risk, but many are hopeful that the rollout of vaccines will keep the resurgence in check.
“The number one thing that we’re watching is a speed up in the vaccination distribution,” Megan Horneman, director of portfolio strategy at Verdence Capital Advisors, told the WSJ. “That’s extremely important to get us back and get us to be able to reopen.”
Looking ahead, earnings reports out of big U.S. banks including JPMorgan and Citigroup this Friday will mark the unofficial start to the fourth-quarter earnings season and provide a better picture of the current economic health of corporate America.
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