Dow climbs above 30,000 for 1st time
New York, Nov 24 (efe-epa).- Wall Street’s main blue-chip index eclipsed the 30,000 mark for the first time ever on Tuesday, a session marked by the start of the transition of power in the United States and optimism over Covid-19 vaccines.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed up 1.54 percent, or 454.97 points, to finish at a record high of 30,046.24. The biggest gainers were Chevron Corporation (up 5.03 percent) and JPMorgan Chase & Co. (up 4.62 percent), while two other components – The Goldman Sachs Group and the Walt Disney Company – closed the session 3.95 percent and 3.77 percent higher, respectively.
The S&P 500 large-cap index rose 1.62 percent, or 57.82 points, to finish at 3,635.41, also a record high, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq finished at 12,036.79 after a gain of 1.31 percent, or 156.15 points.
By industry, energy was up 5.16 percent, followed by financials (up 3.53 percent) and basic materials (up 2.5 percent).
Wall Street responded with relief after the General Services Administration on Monday ascertained that Democrat Joe Biden is the “apparent winner” of the Nov. 3 election and cleared the way for the transition of power to begin, although incumbent President Donald Trump, who claims the vote count was marred by widespread fraud, has refused to concede and says he will continue to fight the result in the courts.
Investors appeared to cheer the potential nomination of former Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen as treasury secretary, several media outlets reported.
They also were upbeat about news that experimental Covid-19 vaccines have proven highly effective, a development that has raised hopes about a return to normalcy in the coming months despite the alarming rise in coronavirus cases in the US.
The Dow, which is made up of 30 blue-chip stocks, has risen around 60 percent since the start of the Cofid-19 crisis in the US in March.
Another big mover on Tuesday was electric car manufacturer Tesla, a Nasdaq-listed stock that rose more than 6 percent amid news about the transition to Biden, a big supporter of clean energy.
That company now has a market capitalization of more than $500 billion for the first time, while the share price jump also sent its founder, Elon Musk, into second place on the list of the world’s wealthiest individuals.
According to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, a daily ranking of the world’s richest people, Musk now has a total net worth of $136 billion, ahead of Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates ($129 billion) and behind only Amazon founder and CEO Jeff Bezos ($183 billion). EFE-EPA
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