The daily business briefing: February 9, 2021

Stock futures flat after Dow and S&P hit record highs, Democrats consider quick minimum wage hike to $9.50, and more

1. Dow, S&P 500, and Nasdaq set records

The Dow Jones Industrial Average, the S&P 500, and the Nasdaq closed at record highs on Monday. The Dow and the S&P 500 rose by 0.8 percent and 0.7 percent after a sixth straight day of gains. The tech-heavy Nasdaq gained 1 percent. U.S. stock index futures inched lower early Tuesday. All three of the main U.S. indexes were down by less than 0.1 percent several hours before the opening bell. Wall Street has been getting a boost from strong earnings reports, improving coronavirus data, and Democrats' push for President Biden's $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief package. "We are still very much in a bull market at the early stages of an economic recovery that's gaining momentum," Michael Wilson, chief U.S. equity strategist at Morgan Stanley, said in a note.

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Harold Maass, The Week US

Harold Maass is a contributing editor at The Week. He has been writing for The Week since the 2001 debut of the U.S. print edition and served as editor of TheWeek.com when it launched in 2008. Harold started his career as a newspaper reporter in South Florida and Haiti. He has previously worked for a variety of news outlets, including The Miami Herald, ABC News and Fox News, and for several years wrote a daily roundup of financial news for The Week and Yahoo Finance.