Stocks Climb to Five-Month Highs; Dollar Declines: Markets Wrap

(Bloomberg) — U.S. stocks edged higher for a fourth day as investors weighed the likelihood for a new spending bill, corporate earnings an escalation of tensions with China that could spill over into trade. The dollar weakened.

The S&P 500 touched a five-month, high, led by gains in utilities, real estate and industrial shares. Futures had retreated overnight on news that the U.S. ordered China’s Houston consulate to quickly close. Earnings remained in focus. Texas Instruments Inc. dropped after urging caution. Snap Inc. tumbled following a miss on its user-growth targets. Tesla Inc. and Microsoft Corp. are among the companies reporting later Wednesday.

“It’s volatile, but it’s an underlying, kind of, path of least resistance higher still,” said Willie Delwiche, investment strategist at Baird.

Progress on combating the virus’s impact also contributed to sentiment. The U.S. reported more than 1,000 deaths Tuesday. Pfizer Inc. shares rallied after saying the government ordered up to 600 million doses of its vaccine candidate against Covid-19. Treasuries rose, while Silver continued its tear, climbing to the highest level in almost seven years.

Fresh Sino-U.S. tension including new charges of Chinese hacking are adding to potential risks weighing on investors who recently drove global equities to a five-month high. After the success of a European rescue package this week, Senate Republicans and the Trump administration are struggling to reach consensus on another stimulus plan. The president warned the coronavirus crisis will probably worsen before improving.

“I’m more concerned going into the August, September period: what’s going to then be the next catalyst to take the broader market higher,” Andrew Sheets, a cross-asset strategist at Morgan Stanley, said on Bloomberg TV. It’s going to be “a tougher period for stocks,” he said.

Elsewhere, oil in New York dropped from a four-month high on signs of a surprise gain in U.S. crude stockpiles.

Here are some key events coming up:

Quarterly earnings gather steam, with reports due from Microsoft, Blackstone Group, Roche, Intel, Unilever, Canadian Pacific, Daimler, Hyundai and Mattel.The EIA crude oil inventory report is due Wednesday.U.S. weekly jobless claims come on Thursday.

These are the main moves in markets:

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