Day Traders Diary

1/20/21

The stock market rallied to a record close as President Joe Biden was sworn into office, sparking hopes for another stimulus package and smoother vaccine rollout ahead. A slew of strong quarterly results also boosted sentiment, including from Netflix which soared 16.9%.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average jumped 257 points, or 0.8%, to a new closing high of 31,188. The S&P 500 advanced 1.4% to a record close of 3,851 led by communication services sector. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite jumped nearly 2% to 13,457, notching a fresh record. All three averages also refreshed their intraday highs during the session.

Netflix soared after the company reported strong subscriber growth and said it's considering share buybacks. Netflix handily beat estimates for global paid net subscriber additions, reporting 8.5 million versus the 6.47 million analysts anticipated. The company also said it expects to break even on a cash flow basis this year.

Biden was inaugurated to succeed President Donald Trump as the 46th president of the United States. Investors remained hopeful that the 78-year-old Democrat's $1.9 trillion Covid-19 relief plan will support the economic recovery and bolster earnings growth. Janet Yellen, Biden's designated nominee for Treasury Secretary, on Tuesday endorsed higher aid spending and urged lawmakers to "act big."

His stimulus proposal calls for direct payments of $1,400 to most Americans and additional unemployment benefits as well as state and local government aid. Biden also announced a sweeping plan to combat the pandemic, which includes a nationwide vaccine campaign to speed up the rollout.

The U.S. fell far short of its goal of vaccinating 20 million people by the end of last year. While the Trump administration's Operation Warp Speed has delivered over 31.1 million doses across the country, only 12.3 million people have been inoculated.

Biden also plans to sign more than a dozen executive orders to reverse many of those issued by Trump, including the so-called Muslim travel ban and the construction of a wall along the U.S.-Mexican border.

Corporations continued to turn in solid quarterly results as earnings and revenue rebounded from the pandemic lows.

Morgan Stanley gained as much as 2% after earnings and revenue topped estimates on solid trading and wealth management results. Shares last traded flat.

Procter & Gamble raised its forecast and said revenue last quarter jumped on higher pandemic demand for cleaning products, but the stock closed lower.