U.S. stocks closed mixed Wednesday ahead of a vote by lawmakers on impeaching President Trump during his final week in office.
The S&P 500 ticked up 0.2%, though the Dow Jones Industrial Average pared gains and slipped less than 0.1% by the 4 p.m. close of trading. The Nasdaq Composite rose 0.4%.
House lawmakers plan to vote Wednesday on impeaching the president for the second time, just days before he is due to leave office. While the political rancor has weighed on market sentiment in recent days, most money managers are looking past the developments in Washington to focus on the prospects for additional fiscal stimulus.
“The market is largely focusing on the fundamentals around a Biden administration,” said Willem Sels, global chief investment officer at HSBC Private Banking.
Stocks have drifted lower this week after notching record highs in early January as investors weighed the prospect of fresh government spending against political turmoil in Washington and still rising Covid-19 cases. Energy and banking are among the best performers so far in the new year as investors bet on companies that fared poorly in 2020 and are likely to benefit as the economy recovers.
