By Yasin Ebrahim

Investing.com – The S&P 500 eased slightly from record highs Monday, but sentiment on stocks remained positive led by cyclical sectors amid optimism over the economy after House Democrats passed the $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure package.

The Nasdaq gained 0.2%, and the rose 0.1%. The intraday record highs were reached by all three major averages.  

After Saudi Arabia increased its selling price for oil exports from Asia at a time of tight supplies, energy gained over 1%

Commerzbank (DE), in a memo, stated that Saudi Arabia’s price rises are indicative of strong Asian demand.

Material prices rose and there was hope for the surge in infrastructure activity as lawmakers approved the $1 trillion bill.

CF Industries (NYSE:), Freeport-McMoran & Gold (NYSE:) and Vulcan Materials (NYSE:) were among biggest gainers in the sector.

Bipartisan legislation, the infrastructure bill, is set to be signed into law by President Biden soon. It aims to enhance America’s infrastructure, including transport, broadband access, and utilities.

Expect the House to approve the ambitious $1.75 trillion package for “human infrastructure”, or Build Back better Act, by Thanksgiving.

However, the legislation measure still needs to get through the Senate. Democrats have a 50% majority and they are having trouble coming together behind the necessary measures and funding options.

Tech was led by a rally in semiconductors. Nvidia, Advanced Micro Devices and Nvidia are both expected to profit from the spending plans of Meta (formerly Facebook:) to expand its metaverse.  

Nvidia (NASDAQ) rose 4% following a BMO upgrade to its rating of the stock from $250 to $375 per share. This was due in part because it is expected that Facebook’s decision-making on metaverse building will help Nvidia’s chips business.

Advanced Micro Devices (NASDAQ) grew 11% following a Meta contract to supply chips for the data center of Facebook.

After Elon Musk, chief executive, asked his followers on Twitter whether they wanted to sell their 10% share in Tesla (NASDAQ):, consumer discretionary stocks were also dragged into red due to a decline in Tesla (NASDAQ). Around 58% of those surveyed supported selling the stake.

Ford Motor (NYSE 🙂 partially compensated some losses. The stock rose almost 5% after Goldman Sachs NYSE : raised its price target to $20 (previously $18) and maintained its neutral rating.

After the U.S. lifted its ban on international travel Monday, fully-vaccinated travelers were allowed to enter the country, the reopening of trade continued.

United Airlines  (NASDAQ:) and American Airlines (NASDAQ:) rose less than 1%, while Delta Air Lines (NYSE:) was up more than 1%.

In other news, Cryptocurrency-related stocks including Riot Blockchain (NASDAQ:), Marathon Digital, Coinbase (NASDAQ:) Global, were underpinned by a surge in bitcoin and , with the latter hitting fresh record highs.