Wednesday, July 16, 2025
63.0°F

US stocks open higher after Trump signs $900B aid package

The Associated Press | Hagadone News Network | UPDATED 4 years, 6 months AGO
by The Associated Press
| December 28, 2020 7:27 AM

NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks began the final week of 2020 slightly higher after President Donald Trump signed a $900 billion economic aid package that helps reduce uncertainty amid the re-imposition of travel and business curbs in response to a new coronavirus variant.

The S&P 500 index was up 0.7 percent as of 9:45 a.m. Eastern. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 175 points, or 0.6 percent, to 30,375 and the Nasdaq composite was up 0.7 percent.

Trump signed the measure, which also includes money for other government functions through September, despite expressing frustration that $600 payments to the public weren’t bigger. His signature helped to clear away uncertainty as reinstated travel and business curbs threaten to weigh on global economic activity.

Companies that were hit the hardest by the pandemic — restaurants, airlines and the cruise industry — were among the biggest gainers in early trading. American Airlines was up 4%, Norwegian Cruise Lines was up 2.7% and Carnival was up more than 2%.

European indexes were broadly higher, helped by more details about the European Union - United Kingdom trade deal as part of the U.K.'s exit from the trade bloc.

In Asia, the Shanghai Composite Index rose less than 0.1% to 3,397.29 while the Nikkei 225 in Tokyo added 0.7% to 26,854.03.

The Hang Seng in Hong Kong declined 0.3% to 26,314.63 after e-commerce giant Alibaba Group announced it was expanding a share buyback from $6 billion to $10 billion.

Alibaba shares declined 7% following last week's announcement of an anti-monopoly investigation and the suspension of the stock market debut of Ant Group, an online finance platform in which Alibaba owns a 33% stake.

In energy markets, benchmark U.S. crude rose 21 cents to $48.44 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. On Thursday, the contract rose 11 cents to close at $48.23. Brent crude, the basis for pricing international oils, advanced 18 cents to $51.52 per barrel in London. It rose 9 cents the previous session to $51.29 a barrel.

The dollar declined to 103.43 yen from Friday’s 103.68 yen. The euro rose to $1.2216 from $1.2180.

ARTICLES BY THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

September 9, 2021 12:03 a.m.

The Latest: US helped family escape Afghanistan overland

WASHINGTON — The United States is confirming for the first time that it has helped a U.S. citizen and family members to escape Afghanistan through an overland route to a neighboring country.

September 8, 2021 12:03 a.m.

The Latest: US helped family escape Afghanistan overland

WASHINGTON — The United States is confirming for the first time that it has helped a U.S. citizen and family members to escape Afghanistan through an overland route to a neighboring country.

September 8, 2021 12:03 a.m.

The Latest: Top Republican says Taliban holding Americans

WASHINGTON — The top Republican on the House Foreign Affairs Committee says some Americans who have been trying to get out of Afghanistan since the U.S. military left are sitting in airplanes at an airport ready to leave but the Taliban are not letting them take off.