US Stocks Close Higher, Lifted By Amazon Surge

US markets rebounded on Tuesday, led by a jump in Amazon, even as a likely delay in new fiscal stimulus by Congress and an increase in the number of coronavirus cases dampened hopes of a faster economic recovery.

Amazon jumped after Bernstein upgraded the stock to "outperform," saying the company will continue to receive a boost from premium subscribers and third-party merchants even once the pandemic is contained.

Microsoft, Apple, Alphabet and Facebook, which together have fueled Wall Street's rally since the pandemic slammed markets in March, all rose more than 1 percent. They had carried the brunt of recent declines.

"The market is looking for some stability. Once again investors and traders are going to look to names that had gotten unduly beaten up," said Kenny Polcari, chief market strategist at SlateStone Wealth.

Investors are now bracing for an extended period of market volatility on concerns over growing political uncertainty in Washington that has been sharpened by the death last week of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

"All the political energies are going to be directed towards the next Supreme Court nomination. I don't see them paying attention to that and pushing stimulus through at the same time," said Mike Zigmont, head of trading and research at Harvest Volatility Management in New York.

Fed Chair Jerome Powell on Tuesday told a congressional panel that the economy had shown "marked improvement" since the pandemic drove it into recession, but the path ahead remains uncertain and the US central bank will do more if needed.

Chicago Fed President Charles Evans also warned that the economy risks a longer, slower recovery, if not another outright recession, if Congress fails to pass more stimulus.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.5 percent to 27,288, the S&P 500 gained 1.1 percent to 3,315, and the Nasdaq Composite added 1.7 percent to 10,963.

Tesla fell after Chief Executive Elon Musk warned about the difficulties of speeding up production as an expert cautioned that the electric carmaker's increased reliance on large-scale aluminium parts could bring new manufacturing challenges. Tesla's slide weighed the most among declining shares on the Nasdaq.

Oracle slid on a report by a state-backed Chinese newspaper that Beijing was unlikely to approve a proposed deal by the software maker and Walmart for ByteDance's TikTok. (Reuters)