The Dow Jones rallied to start the week.

The White House stock market cheerleaders were out in force.

Trump teased hopes of more stimulus, while Larry Kudlow brushed off virus fears.

The Dow Jones rallied around 100 points as the stock market overcame initial struggles to start the week on a high note.

Larry Kudlow helped support risk sentiment by assuring investors that there would be no second wave in the pandemic, while Donald Trump teased Wall Street with talk of another round of stimulus payments.

Dow Jones Climbs as Trump & Kudlow Do the Rounds

All three major stock market indices sauntered toward moderate gains during the late afternoon session.

The Dow rose 92.59 points or 0.36% to 25,964.05.

The S&P 500 increased 0.38% to 3,109.63.

The Nasdaq jumped 0.77% to 10,022.75.

After a weekend that even Donald Trump’s biggest fans will find it difficult to spin positively, the White House was back focusing on the stock market.

The president’s top economic advisor, Larry Kudlow, went on CNBC to reassure investors that they don’t believe a second wave is underway. Instead, Kudlow stressed it is simply “hotspots” that are flaring up.

Trump himself was more focused on one of Dow bulls’ other significant concerns. He teased the possibility of more stimulus payments to help juice the recovery. The president even went so far as to claim that it could happen as early as the next couple of weeks.

So far, the Republican establishment has been extremely resistant to providing any further welfare support. Expanded unemployment benefits are set to expire at the end of July, and many conservative legislators think that’s a good thing.

Nordea Sees a Rocky Road Ahead for the Stock Market

A cynic might say that Trump wants to flood the country with cash to stimulate the stock market ahead of the presidential election.

After all, if Nordea Asset Management’s outlook is correct, the runaway momentum in equities could lose some traction in the weeks and months ahead.

Nordea’s Sebastian Galy warns that stocks have already priced in future gains, not just for the remainder of the year, but potentially even for 2021.

While we view this shock as transitory, we repeat our point to build intelligent long gamma positions in the next two months. Eventually, this rally will peter out having taken part of the gains of 2021 in 2020, and the environment will become more complex.

With that in mind, it is certainly no stretch to imagine a more difficult trading environment during peak election season than the one we have seen in May and June.

Dow 30 Stocks: Apple Powers Higher on Intel Snub

The rally in the Dow 30 was powered by Apple, which jumped 2.2% on headlines that the company will make its long-anticipated shift to designing its own chips.

Despite losing one of their most important clients, Intel stock clung to a modest 0.4% gain ahead of the closing bell.

Tech giant Microsoft also enjoyed a healthy day of trade, rising 2.2%.

But the index’s biggest daily gain came from Nike. The sports apparel giant lifted the Dow Jones with a 3% bounce ahead of its Q4 earnings later in the week.