Stocks drift on Wall Street; S&P 500 within 1% of record

NEW YORK (AP) — Wall Street is drifting in early trading on Monday after President Donald Trump announced several stopgap moves to aid the economy, following the collapse of talks in Congress for a bigger rescue package.

The S&P 500 was up 0.1% after Trump signed executive orders over the weekend to extend an expired benefit for unemployed workers, among other things, though they were more limited than what investors hoped to see from a full rescue bill for the economy. Both the White House and congressional Democrats indicated Sunday they wanted to resume negotiations, but no talks were scheduled.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 216 points, or 0.8% at 27,650, as of 10:03 a.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was down 0.4%.

If stocks end the day higher, it would extend the S&P 500’s wining streak to seven days, which would be its longest since the spring of 2019. The S&P 500 has rallied all the way back to within 0.9% of its record, which was set before the pandemic pancaked the economy into recession. It had been down nearly 34% in March.

Investors have been saying the economy needs another big lifeline from Washington, and quickly, after $600 in weekly unemployment benefits for workers from the federal government expired at the end of July. But talks broke apart on Friday, and Trump issued his executive orders on Saturday.

Almost immediately afterward, critics said the moves did not go far enough to support the economy and may not be able to be implemented anyway. The economy has shown some signs of improvement since the spring, but it is still struggling. Friday's jobs report showed a larger-than-expected increase in hiring across the economy during July, but also a slowdown in job growth amid worries that a resurgence in coronavirus counts could force the economy to backtrack.

The...