Wall Street today: US stocks advance after Scott Bessent’s nomination as Treasury Secretary

US stocks advanced on Monday after Scott Bessent was nominated as Treasury Secretary in the incoming Donald Trump administration.

At 09:50 a.m. the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 459.25 points, or 1.03 per cent, to 44,753.77, the S&P 500 gained 43.12 points, or 0.72 per cent, to 6,012.50 and the Nasdaq Composite gained 153.88 points, or 0.81 per cent, to 19,157.53.

President-elect Trump on Friday said that Bessent could take steps to restrain further government borrowings, even as he follows through on fiscal and trade campaign pledges.

Bank stocks edged higher on the announcement, with Goldman Sachs rising 0.4 per cent, JPMorgan Chase & Co adding 0.6 per cent and Morgan Stanley up 0.6 per cent.

Among the megacap stocks, Tesla rose 0.8 per cent, Alphabet and Amazon.com surged 2.1 per cent each.

Retail trading platform Robinhood Markets advanced 4 per cent after Morgan Stanley raised its rating on the stock.

Shares of Bath & Body Works jumped 17.4 per cent after delivering stronger quarterly profit.

Retailer Macy’s stock lost 3.2 per cent after the company said it will delay the release of its full financial results.

In the bond market, the yield on the 10-year Treasury fell to 4.29 per cent on Monday, down from 4.41 per cent late on Friday. The 2-year Treasury yield also slid.

Crypto market

Bitcoin price was steady on Monday after a rally toward $100,000 fizzled just shy of the historic level.

The cryptocurrency fell as low as $96,580 on Monday after coming within $300 of the six-figure milestone on Friday.

Bullion

Gold prices plunged about 3 per cent on Monday on reports of Israel nearing a ceasefire with Hezbollah.

Spot gold fell nearly 3 per cent to $2,634.78 per ounce by 10:25 a.m. ET (1525 GMT). US gold futures shed 2.8 per cent to $2,636.50.

Spot silver dropped 3.1 per cent to $30.34 per ounce.

Crude oil

Oil prices fell more than $2 on Monday after multiple reports that Israel and Lebanon had agreed to the terms of ceasefire.

Brent crude futures were down $2.02, or 2.69 per cent, at $73.15 a barrel by 9:57 a.m. CST (1557 GMT), while US West Texas Intermediate crude futures were down $2.08, or 2.92 per cent, at $69.16 a barrel.