US stocks are mixed as bond yields rise again

By CNN Business

Updated 5:32 p.m. ET, March 3, 2021
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10:04 a.m. ET, March 3, 2021

Corporate America to Congress: Give Dreamers a path to citizenship ASAP

From CNN Business' Matt Egan

The captains of Corporate America are accelerating a campaign to persuade Washington to give Dreamers a path to citizenship.

The Coalition for the American Dream — comprised of more than 100 organizations, including Amazon, Apple, General Motors and Target wrote a letter to Senate leadership Wednesday calling on lawmakers to provide certainty to Dreamers, undocumented immigrants brought to the United States as children.

The letter, first reported by CNBC, expressed “strong support” for the Dream Act of 2021. That's a recently reintroduced, bipartisan bill that would allow Dreamers to apply for lawful permanent resident status and eventually citizenship.

The legislation “would provide a permanent legislative solution for these young people and end the limbo they have been in for years,” the coalition said.

The letter was signed by leading business groups, including the US Chamber of Commerce, the National Retail Federation and the National Association of Manufacturers. A wide range of companies are also backing the effort, including Best Buy, Microsoft, Google, Uber and Starbucks.

Failure to act could cost the US economy $350 billion in GDP and $90 billion in federal tax revenue, the group argued.

“Continued delay or inaction will cause significant negative economic and social impact on businesses and hundreds of thousands of deserving young people across the country,” the letter said.

The campaign includes a full-page ad in the New York Times, as well as virtual meetings between Senate offices and Dreamers who work at IBM, Intel, Microsoft and other companies.

9:33 a.m. ET, March 3, 2021

Stocks open mixed

From CNN Business' Anneken Tappe

US stocks opened mixed on Wednesday following a turbulent start to the week. Monday was one of the market's best days in months, but it pulled back from its highs on Tuesday.

The ADP employment report showed the private sector added fewer jobs than expected in February, which doesn’t bode well for the government’s official jobs report due Friday.

All three indexes climbed into positive territory in the first minutes of trading.

8:29 a.m. ET, March 3, 2021

ADP employment report misses expectations

From CNN Business' Anneken Tappe

It's jobs week, so that means we're kicking things off with the ADP employment report for February this morning. And It missed expectations. Ugh.

117,000 private-sector jobs were added to the economy last month, the report says —a good clip fewer than the 177,000 economists had expected.

Even though the ADP report and the government's official look at the labor market due Friday morning aren't correlated, the former is a bit of a bellwether for how the official numbers might look.

Mid-sized companies, as well as the trade, transportation and utilities sector, saw the biggest job gains.

Meanwhile, the January ADP report was revised up, with 195,000 jobs added versus the 174,000 initially reported.

7:28 a.m. ET, March 3, 2021

Sands sells its Las Vegas casinos in $6 billion deal

From CNN Business' Jordan Valinsky

Las Vegas Sands Corp. (LVS), the upscale resort and casino company founded by the late Sheldon Adelson, is leaving its namesake city and selling its two Nevada properties in a $6.25 billion deal.

Apollo Global Management and Vici Properties are partnering to buy the Venetian, a 7,000 room resort on the Las Vegas Strip, and the nearby Sands Expo and Convention Center.

Las Vegas Sands is shortening its name to Sands as a result of leaving Las Vegas. In a press release, Adelson's company said the change is "bittersweet" and will help it focus on faster growing markets, such as Asia.

Sands shares spiked nearly 3% in premarket trading.

Read more here.

6:28 a.m. ET, March 3, 2021

US stocks are higher ahead of opening

From CNN Business' Jordan Valinsky

US stocks are rebounding after closing in the red on Tuesday. A mix of travel, banking and energy stocks are buoying the gains.

Here's where things stand as of 6:30 am ET:

6:28 a.m. ET, March 3, 2021

Bitcoin is surging as an inflation hedge, but don't count out gold either

From CNN Business' Paul R. La Monica

Inflation concerns have led to more volatility in the stock and bond markets of late.

That should be good news for gold, a tangible asset with a limited supply that often does well in times of inflation. Central banks can always print more money. Miners can't just magically create more gold.

But gold has recently lost some of its luster thanks to a new financial kid in town: bitcoin. Gold prices are down about 9% this year and are trading nearly 15% below the all-time high of more than $2,000 an ounce set last summer.

Meanwhile, bitcoin has soared nearly 70% and is currently hovering just below $50,000 per coin — not far from the record high it reached last month.

Still, fans of gold think the yellow metal is due for a rebound — even if bitcoin continues to march higher as well.

Read more here.

6:28 a.m. ET, March 3, 2021

UK promises billions more in stimulus. But are tax hikes coming soon?

From CNN Business' Hanna Zlady

UK finance minister Rishi Sunak is preparing to deliver a crucial budget in the wake of the economy's worst slump in more than three centuries, the messy Brexit divorce from its largest trading partner and increasingly strained government finances.

Sunak will announce later on Wednesday that emergency support measures for workers and businesses are being extended, while making the case that public finances will need to be repaired once the country's rapid vaccine rollout has eased the economic pain caused by the coronavirus pandemic.

The UK government has borrowed vast sums of money to fund nearly £300 billion ($419 billion) in fiscal stimulus over the past 12 months. Total government debt has soared to £2 trillion ($2.8 trillion), or close to 100% of GDP, a level not seen since the 1960s, according to the Office for National Statistics.

Read more here.