By Yasin Ebrahim
Investing.com – The Dow closed higher Tuesday, led by gains in energy and technology and growing optimism that more stimulus is about to hit bank accounts under President-elect Joe Biden's administration.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.38%, or 116 points. The S&P 500 was up 0.80%, and the Nasdaq Composite gained 1.53%.
Yellen said now was the time to "act big" without worrying about national debt. "Without further action, we risk a longer, more painful recession now and longer term scarring of the economy later," she said.
The incoming Treasury Secretary's comments arrived as the quarterly earnings season gathers momentum.
Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS) reported fourth-quarter results that topped Wall Street estimates, but it shares 2%. While Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) reported mixed results as revenue missed analysts estimates, the bank announced a $2.9 billion stock buyback program.
Elsewhere in financials, American Express (NYSE:AXP) rose 4% after JPMorgan upgraded the stock to overweight from neutral on expectations for a rebound in consumer spending.
In energy, Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) fell 1% despite reporting fourth-quarter earnings of $0.18 and revenue of $3.24 billion that topped analysts estimates.
Still, the broader energy sector remained well supported by rising oil prices on optimism further stimulus from the incoming Biden administration will boost demand.
Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL), Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT), Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN), Facebook (NASDAQ:FB), Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) were higher.
In other news, General Motors (NYSE:GM) said Microsoft was investing in Cruise, its autonomous vehicle project, sending its shares up 10%. Under the deal, Microsoft would be the preferred cloud provider for Cruise and General Motors.