Major stock indexes closed in the green this Wednesday, May 17, following a rebound among regional banks led by the Western Alliance amid cautious optimism about a possible unlocking of the impasse in Washington over the country’s debt limit and all indices closing the previous day. Have become. Red.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 1.2%, the S&P 500 was up 1.2%; And the Nasdaq Composite was up 1.3%.
Shares of the regional bank were led by a 10.2% gain in Western Alliance Bancorp. Meanwhile, PacWest Bancorp climbed 21.7%, Comerica Inc 12.3% and Zions Bancorporation NA 12.1%.
US President Joe Biden and top Republican lawmaker Kevin McCarthy said Wednesday they intend to reach an agreement before Sunday to raise the federal government’s debt ceiling to $31.4 trillion and avoid an economically devastating default. “To be clear, this conversation is about the general lines of the budget, not about whether we’re going to (pay off) our debt,” Trump told reporters at the White House.
For his part, McCarthy was consulted by reporters on Capitol Hill about the possibility of reaching an agreement on the debt ceiling when Biden returned from a trip to Asia on Sunday, and the Republican acknowledged that “it is possible “, and above all: We are in a very short time. But I never give up. I have guts, determination and we are going to get through it.”
After a month of confrontation, the Democratic president and the speaker of the House of Representatives agreed on Tuesday to directly negotiate a deal that has to be reached by both houses of Congress before the federal government runs out of money to pay its bills. and must be approved. , as soon as June 1st.
“The cautious optimism expressed by both President Biden and Congressman (Kevin) McCarthy about the progress of loan talks has people feeling a little better,” said Michael James of Wedbush Securities.
Retailers Target Corp and TJX Companies Inc are forecasting lower-than-expected quarterly earnings despite beating first-quarter estimates. Target shares rose 2.6% and TJ Maxx parent 0.9%.
