US LNG exports surge but will buyers in China turn up?
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* iShares Silver Trust ETF jumps
* Wall Street's fear gauge eases from 3-month high
* Indexes up: Dow 1.1%, S&P 500 1.8%, Nasdaq 2.6%
(Updates to late afternoon)
By Caroline Valetkevitch
Feb 1 (Reuters) - U.S. stocks were up sharply on Monday
afternoon following a steep sell-off last week, with mining
shares rising as the retail trading frenzy shifted to silver and
as investors weighed prospects for further economic stimulus.
The iShares Silver Trust ETF SLV.N , the largest
silver-backed ETF, jumped 6.7% as silver broke above $30 an
ounce for the first time since 2013 with an army of retail
traders storming into the metal after betting billions of
dollars on stocks last week. Silver miners Hecla Mining Co HL.N , Coeur Mining Inc
CDE.N and Wheaton Precious Metals Corp WPM.N surged.
U.S. President Joe Biden will meet 10 moderate Republican
senators on Monday to discuss their proposal to shrink his
sweeping $1.9 trillion U.S. COVID-19 relief package, even as
Democrats prepare to push legislation through Congress without
Republican support. "That's gaining some traction, and I think the market is
thinking it's a good starting point," said Quincy Krosby, chief
market strategist at Prudential Financial in Newark, New Jersey.
Also, "the retail trader focus today seems to be on silver,
and it's considered to be a small pocket of the market," she
said.
Wall Street's main indexes last week logged their steepest
weekly fall since October, as investors digested efficacy data
from Johnson & Johnson's COVID-19 vaccine trial results, and a
battle between Wall Street hedge funds and retail investors
added to volatility.
The CBOE volatility index .VIX eased on Monday from
three-month highs that were fueled by a surge in shares of
GameStop Corp GME.N , AMC Entertainment Holdings AMC.N and
others that burnt hedge funds that had bet against the
companies. GameStop was down about 25%, while AMC was up about
6% on Monday.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI rose 317.28 points,
or 1.06%, to 30,299.9, the S&P 500 .SPX gained 66.71 points,
or 1.80%, to 3,780.95 and the Nasdaq Composite .IXIC added
340.60 points, or 2.61%, to 13,411.29.
Focus also will be on more quarterly earnings reports this
week.
The latest ISM survey was mixed as U.S. manufacturing
activity slowed slightly in January, while a measure of prices
paid by factories for raw materials and other inputs jumped to
its highest level in nearly 10 years. Advancing issues outnumbered declining ones on the NYSE by a
4.15-to-1 ratio; on Nasdaq, a 3.51-to-1 ratio favored advancers.
The S&P 500 posted six new 52-week highs and no new lows;
the Nasdaq Composite recorded 93 new highs and 15 new lows.