Debt ceiling and bank woes hinder stock market rally.
The S&P 500 index is struggling to rally due to concerns over regional US banks and the debt-ceiling showdown in Washington. The worries are capping rallies rather than resulting in a downdraft, but investors should be prepared for a significant pullback if more banks look in danger of failing or if the path to a debt-ceiling deal gets more rocky. Meanwhile, investors are piling into tech stocks, particularly the biggest of the so-called megacap names, in something of a flight to safety that has sparked separate concerns over the durability of the stock market’s 2021 rally.