By Geoffrey Smith
Investing.com -- Wall Street opened at fresh record highs after Congress's delayed certification of the presidential elections results was followed by a statement from Donald Trump agreeing to an orderly transition of power.
The developments settled nerves after a mob of armed and violent Trump supporters stormed the government building on Capitol Hill on Wednesday attempting to overturn the election result. Investors have chosen to look through the shocking scenes - and another week of painfully high jobless claims numbers - and focus on the prospect of amped-up stimulus spending from a Congress that is now set to be united under Democratic Party control. New York Senator Chuck Schumer, who is set to take over leadership of the chamber from Mitch McConnell, said late on Wednesday that one of the party's first priorities would be to raise the direct stimulus checks to households to $2,000 from the $600 currently foreseen.
By 9:45 AM ET (1445 GMT), the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 116 points, or 0.4%, at 30,946 points. The S&P 500 was up 0.9% and the NASDAQ Composite was up 1.4%.
Earlier, the Labor Department had said that the number of initial claims for jobless benefits stayed at the high level of 787,000 last week, a negligible decline from 790,000 the week before but still better than expectations.
The most prominent moves included hydrogen fuel cell company Plug Power (NASDAQ:PLUG) stock, which rose by over 29% after South Korean group SK Group said it will invest $1.5 billion into a new joint venture aimed at providing hydrogen fuel-cell systems, fueling stations and electrolyzers in South Korea and elsewhere. SK is acquiring its shares in Plug at a price of $29.29 a share. This morning's rise has propelled the stock price over $45.
Elsewhere, bank stocks were again in vogue as the anticipation of higher borrowing and bigger stimulus drove bond yields higher, widening the margins that banks can earn on their lending (and arguably reducing the risk of a big new wave of bad loans). Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS) stock hit an all-time high and PNC Financial Services (NYSE:PNC) hit a 52-week high, both gaining 2.9%.
Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) stock also posted notable gains of 4.3% after long-term bear Royal Bank of Canada repented of its skepticism and raised its price target significantly.
On the downside, Alibaba (NYSE:BABA) ADRs extended Wednesday's losses, which were triggered by a report that the U.S. government may add it and rival Tencent (OTC:TCEHY) to the blacklist of companies in which U.S. entities may not invest. Alibaba was down 2.1%, while Tencent ADRs lost 1.6%.