Fresh Stimulus Hopes Help Wall Street Edge Up

Shares on Wall Street ended higher on Thursday in choppy trading, as investors cheered the prospect of more fiscal stimulus to support a pandemic-damaged US economy, with more data pointing to a slowing labour market recovery.

Trading on Wall Street this week has been driven by a flurry of reports related to developments in the stimulus talks.

US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi reported progress in talks with the Trump administration for another round of financial aid and said legislation could be hammered out "pretty soon".

However, White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow cautioned "significant policy differences" remained, which were unlikely to be resolved before the November 3 election.

"These stimulus rumours continue to swirl," said Mike Zigmont, head of trading at Harvest Volatility Management. "But I think the market is getting accustomed to these rumors and each new rumor has less of an impact than it used to."

He was also not confident that another stimulus deal would pave the way for another bullish trend in stocks.

"The second stimulus as a topic has been kicking around for so long. The bulk of the economic consequences has already been baked into stock prices," Zigmont said. "And now it is strictly an emotional issue, a perception-in-the-market type of issue."

Pelosi and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin have been negotiating a relief bill near the US$2 trillion mark, a sum opposed by Senate Republicans who have expressed concern about the federal deficit.

Also on Thursday, data showed the number of Americans filing for state unemployment benefits last week dropped more than expected to 787,000, but remained stubbornly high as support from fiscal stimulus faded.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed 0.54 percent higher at 28,364, the S&P 500 gained 0.52 percent to 3,453 and the Nasdaq Composite added 0.19 percent to 11,506. (Reuters)