Aug 10 (Reuters) – The Dow blue chip and the benchmark S&P 500 hit record highs on Tuesday, driven by a rally in economy-linked value stocks after the Senate adopted a bipartisan infrastructure package eagerly awaited $ 1 trillion.

A top priority for President Joe Biden, the bill could be the country’s biggest investment in decades in roads, bridges, airports and waterways. Senators also began voting on a $ 3.5 trillion follow-on spending package that Democrats plan to pass without a Republican vote. Read more

“It’s a huge investment and a huge victory for the Biden administration, but it’s not the end of the story and Bill now faces a tough road as he negotiates his way through. the House, ”said Danni Hewson, financial analyst at AJ Bell.

Nine of the top 11 S&P sectors increased. Energy (.SPNY), Financials (.SPSY), Industrials (.SPLRCI) and Materials (.SPLRCM), which are expected to benefit the most from an economic recovery, were the main winners, while equities technological <.splrct> underperformed.

“It’s a headline driven market that’s very finicky. This infrastructure bill directly affects the markets and you see money flying in commodity trading and out of technology,” said Dennis Dick, a trader at Bright Trading LLC.

“This market is in rotation and August is generally a quieter time. There are fewer traders there, and that can make us prone to sudden little shakes in the market.”

With new coronavirus cases rising steadily in the United States, progress in the infrastructure package should help assess budget support for the next stage of a recovery in the world’s largest economy.

The rapid spread of the Delta variant has pushed cases and hospitalizations to a six-month high, with an average of 100,000 COVID-19 cases for three consecutive days – up 35% over the past week. Read more

Investors are also focusing on inflation numbers expected later this week for clues as to the Federal Reserve’s policy trajectory, after two Fed officials said on Monday that inflation was already at a a level that could satisfy a stage of a key test for the onset of rate hikes. . Read more

As of 12:28 p.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average (.DJI) was up 137.15 points, or 0.39%, to 35,239.00.

The S&P 500 (.SPX) was up 9.70 points, or 0.22%, to 4,442.05 after briefly turning negative earlier in the session and the Nasdaq Composite (.IXIC) was down 35 , 45 points, or 0.24%, to 14,824.73, weighed down by declines in Apple Inc (AAPL.O), Amazon.com (AMZN.O) and Microsoft Corp (MSFT.O).

AMC Entertainment (AMC.N) rose 1.4% after beating second-quarter revenue estimates as moviegoers returned to its theaters after a year of closures and restrictions. Read more

Kansas City Southern (KSU.N) gained 7.2% after Canadian Pacific Railway Ltd (CP.TO) increased its bid for the U.S. rail operator by about $ 2 billion to $ 27.29 billion. Read more

Gaining issues outnumbered declines by a 1.28-to-1 ratio on the NYSE. The problems down outnumbered the advances for a 1.15-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.

The S&P Index recorded 49 new 52-week highs and two new lows, while the Nasdaq recorded 66 new highs and 78 new lows.

Report by Devik Jain in Bangalore; Editing by Aditya Soni, Subhranshu Sahu and Maju Samuel

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