Major indexes in the US stock market on Thursday closed higher with the Dow Jones and S&P 500 closing at all-time highs of 32,485.59 points (+0.58%) and 3,939.34 (1.04% points respectively. Technology stocks also recorded sharp increases with the Nasdaq 100 surging 2.36% at market close.
The rebound from the recent sell-off was mainly driven by news of President Joe Biden signing the $1.9 trillion stimulus package on Thursday, paving way for direct payments to US citizens.
The $1.9 trillion “American Rescue Plan” stimulus package was approved by Congress earlier in the week and the distribution of direct payments will begin before the end of March. The bill includes a $1,400 check for every qualifying citizen, $300 per week in unemployment benefits until September 6, as well as provisions for states, education and healthcare.
Major News
Renault to sell its stake in Daimler to raise €1.2B
French automobile manufacturer Renault has it will sell its entire 1.54% stake in German Daimler in order to pay off some debt and “accelerate the financial deleveraging of its Automotive activity”.
After the deal is complete, Renault is expected to raise around $1.4 billion, depending on the closing share price. Renault also stressed that industrial partnership with Daimler “remains unchanged and is not impacted”.
Netflix Policy on password sharing
Streaming platform Netflix is introducing a new feature to determine customers using a shared subscription. According to CNN, Netflix is rolling out alerts asking users to verify they are authorized to watch on the account to be able to keep watching.
The new feature is just a test, and it’s rolling out to a limited number of users who watch on the Netflix TV app.
Weekly Initial Jobless Claims
The number of initial jobless claims in the United States fell by 42,000 to 712,000 in the week ending March 5, the US Department of Labor said on Thursday. The figure from the previous report was revised up by 9,000 from 745,000 to 754,000. The four-week moving average dropped by 34,000 from the last week’s revised average to 759,000.
OPEC raises global growth forecast, revises up global oil demand
The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) on Thursday said it expects the global economy to grow 5.1% in 2021, up from its previous estimate of 4.8%.
Nevertheless, the OPEC warned that “this forecast remains surrounded by uncertainties including but not limited to COVID-19 variants, the effectiveness of vaccines, sovereign debt levels in many regions, inflationary pressures, and central bank responses.”
The cartel also said it expects the global oil demand to increase by 5.9 million barrels per day (bpd) from the previous year to stand at 96.3 million BPD in 2021.
