Wall Street opens sharply higher on hopes of Congress approving stimulus bill

• Risk-on flows dominate US stock markets as investors wait for coronavirus bill.
• S&P 500 Energy Index leads the rally in early trade.

Major equity indexes in the US opened decisively higher on Tuesday as signalled by the stocks futures hitting 5% upper-limit earlier in the day. As of writing, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 6.5% on the day while the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq Composite were adding 6% and 5.4%, respectively.

Following Monday's talks, US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said that the coronavirus relief bill was expected to be approved on Tuesday. Latest chatter suggests that the bill is close to being finalized and investors are waiting for an official announcement.

Reflecting the upbeat market mood, the CBOE Volatility Index, Wall Street's fear gauge, is down 11.2% on Tuesday.

Among the 11-major S&P 500 sectors, the Energy Index is up more than 9% to lead the rally while the Industrials and the Materials indexes are both gaining more than 7%.