By Yasin Ebrahim
Investing.com – The Dow soared on Tuesday, though gains were kept in check by rising U.S.-China trade tensions amid a report that President Donald Trump is weighing up a range of sanctions on Beijing.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 2.17%, or 530 points, the S&P 500 gained 1.23%, cutting some gains to close below 3,000, while the Nasdaq Composite added 0.17%.
In response to China's push to impose a security law in in Hong Kong that many believe threatens the autonomy of the city, the White House is considering a range of sanctions on Chinese official, businesses, and institutions, Bloomberg reported.
The news forced traders to rein in some of their bullish bets on stocks, which had rallied strongly on optimism over the reopening of the economy.
Financials led the charge higher for the broader market as investors piled into beaten-down bank stocks, with JPMorgan Chase (NYSE:JPM) up 7.10%, Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS) up 9% and Citigroup (NYSE:C) rising 9.25%.
The surge in JPMorgan was also boosted by comments from CEO Jamie Dimon, who said the bank is "very valuable" at its current price.
Easing fears that reopening the economy could trigger a wave of infections also underpinned sentiment following data showing states that reopened before the start of May have seen a 29% reported drop in cases over the past three weeks, according to CNBC.
In another boost to reopening optimism, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said on Sunday that state, the epicentre of the outbreak, is "decidedly in the reopening phase," with sports leagues, campgrounds and veterinarian offices set to reopen, albeit with limitations.
Efforts to reopen states nationwide has many expecting that domestic travel will pick and support battered airlines.
UBS upgraded Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) to buy from neutral and raised its price target on the stock to $41 from $37, sending its shares 12.6% higher. American Airlines (NASDAQ:AAL) was up 14.7% and United Airlines (NASDAQ:UAL) jumped 16.3%.
Signs of progress on a potential vaccine also boosted investor sentiment, with Novavax (NASDAQ:NVAX) closing up 4.62% after the drugmaker said it had begun human trials for its potential coronavirus vaccine.
Merck (NYSE:MRK) climbed 1.14% after it said it had teamed up with scientific research company IAVI to develop a potential vaccine.
Energy, meanwhile, caught a bid on a sharp uptick in oil prices amid ongoing bets that output cuts by major producers and ongoing signs of a recovery in crude demand will alleviate the glut in supplies.
On the economic front, investors mulled mixed data as U.S. consumer confidence undershot expectations, but housing activity continued to rebound.
The Conference Board’s consumer confidence gauge rose to a reading of 86.6 in May from 85.7 the prior month, missing economists’ forecasts for a reading of 88. New home sales jumped to 623,000, topping economists' forecasts of 490,000.