Tuesday's Market Minute: Miracle On Wall Street?

After months of back-and-forth between Democrats and Republicans, Congress has finally passed a second Covid-19 relief package totaling more than $2.3 billion. That will go to $600 stimulus payments to most Americans, including children, as soon as next week, as well as supplemental unemployment benefits, and aid for small businesses. President Donald Trump is expected to sign the relief package, while President-elect Joe Biden took to Twitter: “I applaud the relief package, but our work is far from over.” Biden also said Congress will need to start on additional support measures in the new year as many of the aid provisions in the stimulus package expire in the first quarter of next year.

In other news, Tesla Inc’s TSLA first day trading in a major index Monday saw shares of the EV-maker fall as much as 7%. Tesla makes up 1.6% of the S&P 500 and ended the day as its sixth heaviest-weighted stock. The sell-off in the shares was somewhat expected after tens of millions of Tesla shares were purchased Friday by institutional investors. Additionally, reports out of Reuters and Tech Times that Apple Inc AAPL is accelerating production of an electric car with self-driving technology to rival Tesla’s also weighed on the stock late Monday. Morgan Stanley analyst Adam Jonas said in a report that it has long been the assumption that Apple will design and engineer a car one day, and that he believes the iPhone-maker will prove far more formidable competition for Tesla in the EV space than the legacy automakers.

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