US Stock Markets Today: S&P 500, Nasdaq Rise After Trump Discloses Treasury Secretary Pick

The benchmark Wall Street indices opened higher on Monday, in the first session following US President-elect Donald Trump's disclosure of Scott Bessent as his pick for the treasury secretary.

The broader index, S&P 500, rose 0.4% to 5,992.28 at the opening bell, whereas the tech-heavy Nasdaq was up 0.7% at 19,140.59 as the US stock market commenced trading.

The 30-stock Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed marginally by 88.98 points to 44,385.49. However, minutes into the trade, it rose by 1% to 44,730.88.

All S&P 500 sectoral indices, barring energy, were edging higher as Wall Street kicked off trade. The major gainers were consumer discretionary and telecom, up by 1.8% and 1.4%, respectively.

Among the early gainers were General Motors Co. and Intel Corp., which rose 2.39% and 2.45%, respectively. The major drags in the early period of trading were Nvidia Inc., which plunged 2.84%, and Lockheed Martin Corp., which slipped 2.5%.

Trump's decision to choose Bessent, a Wall Street veteran, was expected to rejoice the markets. He is expected to implement Trump's contentious trade policies in a cautious manner.

Although the 62-year-old is aligned with Trump's 'America First' approach, he is in favour of gradually implementing the trade curbs. He is also seen as open to negotiating the size of import tariffs, which were promised as high as 60% on Chinese goods by Trump during the campaign trail.

As the market expected, the announcement led to a softening in the US dollar and bond yields. The Bloomberg Spot Dollar index was down 0.79% at 106.7 at 9:50 a.m. (EST). The 10-year Treasury yield declined by 12 basis points to 4.28%.

Bitcoin, which witnessed a historic bull run following Trump's win in the presidential poll, slipped after the US markets opened. The cryptocurrency was trading 1.03% lower at $96,061.4 at 9:55 a.m. (EST).

Gold, after rebounding last week on escalating Russia-Ukraine tensions, pared much of the gains on Monday. Spot gold was trading 2.7% lower at $2,643.5 an ounce at 9:43 a.m. (EST). The metal tumbled on reports of Israel and Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah nearing a deal for ceasefire.