US stockmarkets shrug off the mob's rampage through the US Capitol building

US stockmarkets seem more interested in the results of Senate elections in Georgia than on the lawless mob's raid on the country's Capitol building.

People in New York
Spending and confidence has dwindled in recent weeks
(Image credit: © ANGELA WEISS/AFP via Getty Images)

A “lawless mob” storms the US Capitol in a bid to overturn a democratic election, says Michael Mackenzie in the Financial Times. How did “cold-blooded markets” react? After a “brief wobble” they decided to set new all-time highs. Investors are more interested in Georgia, where Democrats last week gained control of the US Senate. That should give the Joe Biden administration more scope for further stimulus measures, helping the current “reflation” stock rally run hotter.

The expectation of new stimulus measures has continued to push up yields on ten-year treasury bonds – the benchmark of America’s borrowing costs – which this week hit a ten-month high. Signs that the US economy began to lag at the end of last year have given the stimulus doves another boost. The country shed a net 140,000 jobs in December, the first decline in seven months. The fall was driven by layoffs in the hospitality sector, which has been hit hard by the country’s post-Thanksgiving virus wave.

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Markets editor

Alex is an investment writer who has been contributing to MoneyWeek since 2015. He has been the magazine’s markets editor since 2019. 

Alex has a passion for demystifying the often arcane world of finance for a general readership. While financial media tends to focus compulsively on the latest trend, the best opportunities can lie forgotten elsewhere. 

He is especially interested in European equities – where his fluent French helps him to cover the continent’s largest bourse – and emerging markets, where his experience living in Beijing, and conversational Chinese, prove useful. 

Hailing from Leeds, he studied Philosophy, Politics and Economics at the University of Oxford. He also holds a Master of Public Health from the University of Manchester.