US OPEN: Wall Street lack direction after Congress passes Covid relief bill

• Congress passes $892 billion COVID relief package
• US GDP growth in Q3 revised slightly higher
• Apple (AAPL.US) is working on a electric-car for 2024

US stock markets opened mixed after a surprisingly resilient performance on Monday, as investors welcomed a new coronavirus-aid bill and try to shrug off concerns over a fresh surge in the pandemic from the new strain of Covid-19 virus detected in Europe and Africa. Yesterday Congress approved a much-awaited $892 billion stimulus package and President Trump is expected to sign it soon. The bill includes $600 payments to most Americans, a $300-per-week unemployment benefit and $284 billion for the Paycheck Protection Program. Congress also passed $1.4 trillion government funding avoiding a shutdown. On the data front, GDP rebounded at a 33.4% annualized rate last quarter, the Commerce Department said in its third estimate of GDP. That was revised slightly up from the 33.1% pace reported last month.

US500 – yesterday’ downward move was halted by the 200 SMA (red line) and index  managed to erase most of its recent losses. Today US500 bounced of the lower limit of the triangle pattern and break above the 50 SMA (green line). If the current sentiment prevails, the upward move could be extended to the 3717 pts handle. Source: xStation5

Apple (AAPL.US) has revived its plans to build and market self-driving cars and is targeting a product launch in 2024, based on a radical new battery technology, according to Reuters report.

Apple (AAPL.US) stock launched today’s session higher and is testing upper limit of the upward channel. If buyers will manage to uphold momentum, then another upward impulse towards ATH at $138.00 could be launched. Source: xStation5

BioNTech (BNTX.US) said on Tuesday that its Covid-19 vaccine will likely be effective against the new variant identified in the UK and added that a new version could be developed in six weeks if necessary.

Alphabet (GOOGL.US) – Alphabet’s Google unit and Facebook (FB.US) allegedly agreed to “cooperate and assist one another” on any investigation into online ad cooperation, according to an unredacted version of a lawsuit filed against Google last week that was seen by The Wall Street Journal.

Tesla (TSLA.US) stock rose slightly in premarket after slumping more than 6% in its first day of trading as part of the S&P 500 on Monday

CarMax (KMX.US) stock fell 2% in premarket after company posted quarterly earnings of $1.42 per share, well above analysts' expectations of $1.14 a share. Revenue also beat market estimates, however comparable used-vehicle sales came at 0.8% compared to consensus estimate of a 1% increase.