US open: Stocks trade higher after Congress passes infrastructure bill

Wall Street stocks opened higher on Monday after the approval of Joe Biden's infrastructure spending package in Congress.

As of 1515 GMT, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.40% at 36,471.61, while the S&P 500 was 0.16% firmer 4,704.91 and the Nasdaq Composite came out the gate 0.21% stronger at 16,004.34.

The Dow opened 143.66 points higher on Monday, building on gains registered on Friday as a better-than-expected October jobs report led to another fresh record close for the blue-chip index.

After the opening bell on Monday, Caterpillar and Deere stock were trading higher after the House of Representatives passed a more than $1.0trn infrastructure bill late on Friday and sent the legislation to Joe Biden for his signature. Shares in other infrastructure-related stocks such as Nucor, Vulcan Materials, United Rentals, Martin Marietta, Quanta and Jacobs Engineering also advanced in early trade.

The package, which was passed by the Senate back in August, will provide new funding for transportation, utilities and broadband.

Going the other way, Tesla stock was in the red at the open after founder Elon Musk asked in a Twitter poll whether or not he should dispose of 10% of his stock in response to political clamouring to tax unrealised gains from equity holdings. 58% of respondents voted yes.

Still in the corporate space, AMC Entertainment and TripAdvisor were both slated to report earnings after the close.

On the macro front, no major data points were scheduled for release on Monday but Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell will deliver a speech at 1530 GMT, while fellow central bankers John Williams, Michelle Bowman, Patrick Harker and Charles Evans will also speak throughout the course of the day.