STORY: Wall Street's main indexes managed to end Tuesday's choppy session higher, with the Dow gaining almost two-tenths of a percent to close at a record high, the S&P 500 climbing about four-tenths of a percent and the Nasdaq adding three-tenths of a percent.
The gains came despite a potential U.S. government shutdown, which would delay key economic reports and muddy the Federal Reserve's interest rate policy outlook.
Robert Conzo is CEO and managing director of The Wealth Alliance.
“The market today once again is showing a lot of resilience in the face of a potential government shutdown. I think it's signaling the market just doesn't feel it's going to happen. Again, you have two sides playing a serious game of chicken. We'll see who pulls out – if someone does – if they don't, we probably will have some headline risk going down. But for now, again, market's showing pretty strong resilience going forward like they have throughout the whole year.”
All three main stock indexes gained for the second quarter in a row, and the S&P 500 registered its biggest September gain since 2010.
Stocks on the move Tuesday included Pfizer, which climbed more than six-and-a-half percent after the company cut a deal with President Trump that grants it tariff relief in exchange for lower prices on certain prescription drugs.
Chipmaker Wolfspeed surged 29% after the company successfully emerged from Chapter 11 bankruptcy with a substantially reduced debt load.
And shares of Firefly Aerospace sank more than 20% following a testing mishap that destroyed the core booster for its centerpiece Alpha rocket.
