By Liz Moyer
Investing.com -- Stocks waffled for most of the day, but tech staged an afternoon rally as lawmakers gathered to impeach President Donald Trump for the second time in a year.
The unprecedented political move comes a week after an unruly mob of Trump supporters overtook the Capitol, causing damage and resulting in five deaths. Since then, the grounds surrounding the Hill in D.C. have been fortified with National Guard troops, fencing and barricades. The House began voting shortly before the market closed.
Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC) led technology stocks higher after announcing it would bring in a new CEO from VMware Inc (NYSE:VMW). The so-called Fab 5 tech stocks also pushed higher.
With one week to the inauguration of President-elect Joe Biden, coronavirus cases continued to surge. Biden has promised to immediately address ways to combat the virus, including pushing for a broader rollout of vaccines.
Here are three things that could affect markets tomorrow.
1. Earnings reporting season about to kick off
Delta Air Lines Inc (NYSE:DAL) is set to report earnings on Thursday. Of course it hasn’t been a good year for airline stocks, but travelers did return to the skies over the holidays, which take up a chunk of the fourth quarter.
Analysts tracked by Investing.com expect a loss of $2.47 a share on revenue of $3.78 billion.
2. Another round of stock debuts to kick off the year
On Wednesday the “buy now, pay later” app Affirm Holdings Inc (NASDAQ:AFRM) debuted with a surge of more than 100% after opening at $90.90 a share. They priced at $49, falling in line with other recent IPOs that popped when they started trading. Affirm is the latest effort by PayPal founder Max Levchin.
It’s not the only IPO people are watching this week. Poshmark, the used clothing and goods online marketplace, is set to price its IPO Wednesday night and open for trading on Thursday. At a range of $35 to $39, the listing values Poshmark at around $2.7 billion.
3. A speech by Fed Chair Powell
Jerome Powell is scheduled to speak around 12:30 PM ET (1630 GMT) during a livestream event hosted by Princeton University’s Bendheim Center for Finance. He may bring up economic stimulus, which many Fed policy makers have said is crucial to the economic recovery.
Incoming Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer reportedly has asked Biden for $1.3 trillion in stimulus. That would come on top of the $900 billion package Congress approved last month and boost the individual payments for qualified households to $2,000 from $600.