NEW YORK (AFP) – Wall Street stocks resumed their holiday season rally on Wednesday (Dec 30), shrugging off the dimming chances of more US stimulus being enacted while another coronavirus vaccine advanced.
The Dow edged to a fresh record, with analysts pointing to bargain-hunting after equities fell on Monday.
Britain became the first country in the world to approve AstraZeneca and Oxford University’s low-cost Covid-19 vaccine, another option to tame the deadly disease. The United States has already cleared vaccines from Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna.
But Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell threw more cold water on the prospect for raising stimulus payments to US$2,000 (S$2,600) from the US$600 maximum included in the just-enacted US relief bell, criticising a measure backed by President Donald Trump in a speech on the Senate floor.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished up 0.2 per cent at 30,409.56, narrowly overtaking an all-time high registered on Monday.
The broad-based S&P 500 added 0.1 per cent at 3,732.04, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index gained 0.2 per cent to 12,870.00.
“Investors are taking a breather,” said Maris Ogg of Tower Bridge Advisers. “We are running a bit out of gas after the big moves of the last quarter.”
Among individual companies, Intel fell 1.3 per cent a day after activist investor Dan Loeb of Third Point sharply criticised the chipmaker and called for it to consider divestitures.
Shares of Intel had risen about 5 per cent on Tuesday following reports of Loeb’s statement.
