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Investing.com – Wall Street moved tentatively higher Tuesday, as signs of progress among U.S. lawmakers on the next round of coronavirus stimulus sparked a relief rally in stocks tied to the economy.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.29%, or 76 points. The S&P 500 was flat, while the Nasdaq Composite slipped 0.13%.
Lawmakers on both sides of the political aisle hinted that some progress had been made on talks concerning the next round of coronavirus aid, but their differences on the size of unemployment support, which was set at $600 a week in March, remained a key sticking point to get a deal over the line.
After weeks of deadlock, signs of progress on the next fiscal stimulus package eased investor worries of a no-deal scenario, which will likely bring the economic recovery to a halt.
“Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle agree on sending $1,200 in direct stimulus payments to most Americans, but cannot agree on the amount of extended federal unemployment benefits, which expired on July 31st; Democrats want to preserve the $600 amount, while Republicans want to reduce it to $200,” Stifel said in a note.
Some sectors tied to the progress of the economy like energy and real estate rallied to keep the broader market in the green.
Energy climbed more than 2%, led by Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB), Devon Energy (NYSE:DVN) and Marathon Oil (NYSE:MRO).
Tech, however, appeared to run out of steam despite Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) rising 1% as rumors swirled that the tech giant was weighing whether to make a move for social media company TikTok.
Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN), Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL), Facebook (NASDAQ:FB) and Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) traded in the red.
On the earnings front, investors digested mixed quarterly results.
Take-Two Interactive Software (NASDAQ:TTWO) raised its full-year guidance after reporting second-quarter results that topped Wall Street estimates on both the top and bottom lines, sending its shares more than 5% higher.
Virgin Galactic (NYSE:SPCE) nosedived more than 12% after reporting a wider than expected quarterly loss. The company also detailed plans to raise about $460 million, through the sale of about 20.5 million shares.
