Day Ahead: Top 3 Things to Watch for March 25

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Investing.com – The Dow Jones Industrial Average set another record today, closing with its largest point gain ever and up 11.37%. That was the largest percentage gain since March 15, 1933.

On that day, the Dow jumped 15.34%, which was just 62.1 points, on the first trading day after FDR took office.

Wall Street’s initial rise came from positive comments about the stimulus bill on Capitol Hill to combat the effects of Covid-19.

President Donald Trump then took the ball. His comments through the day were tailor-made to take gains into record territory, especially his desire to open up the economy by Easter (controversial but market-friendly) and his commitment to save Dow component Boeing (NYSE:BA).

Now it’s back to Congress.

Here are three things the could move the markets tomorrow.

1. Stimulus Package Expected Soon

Leaders of both parties in Congress and the White House are currently working on specifics of the $2 trillion stimulus package that would provide direct cash to consumers and funding for business to name a couple of the provisions.

Republicans and Democrats were still hopeful of a vote Tuesday evening, but there were still details to be ironed out, The Washington Post reported.

Earlier, lawmakers said a deal was very close (first the five-yard line, then the two).

Passage in the evening could give global markets more time to parse the specifics, but as far as investors are concerned a stimulus package is coming.

But that leaves the implementation, the speed as which the money can get out and how the virus progresses.

2. Durable Goods on Tap

On the economic calendar tomorrow, the Commerce Department will report its latest numbers on orders for long-lasting goods, but, again, those numbers are from three weeks ago.

The numbers arrive at 8:30 AM ET (12:30 GMT).

February durable goods orders are expected to have fallen 0.8%, according to economists’ forecasts compiled by Investing.com.

Core durable goods orders, which exclude autos, are forecast to have fallen 0.4%.

3. Oil Inventories Seen Rising

Oil prices settled higher today and continued to show strength in late trading.

Tomorrow the oil inventories figures for the week ended March 20 arrive at 10:30 AM ET (14:30 GMT).

Analysts are looking for a stockpile build of about 2.8 million barrels, according to forecasts compiled by Investing.com.

Crude imports will also be of interest. They fell by more than 800,000 barrels the week before.

After the close of trading today, the American Petroleum Institute said its snapshot of oil inventories showed a decline of 1.25 million barrels. That gave prices a little kick higher after release.