Trump-fueled rally propels Wall Street to record highs

By Lisa Pauline Mattackal and Purvi Agarwal

(Reuters) - Wall Street's main indexes hit record highs on Monday (NASDAQ:MNDY ), extending post-election gains, ahead of the next batch of economic data that could decide whether the equity rally can sustain itself.

Several stocks that gained following the U.S. election results continued their upward trajectory. Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA ) jumped 6.7% after touching $1 trillion in market value on Friday for the first time since 2022.

The EV maker gave a boost to consumer discretionary shares, with the sector at a record high and up 1.3% on Monday.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 390.08 points, or 0.89%, to 44,379.07, the S&P 500 gained 13.36 points, or 0.22%, to 6,008.90, and the Nasdaq Composite lost 1.11 points, or 0.01%, to 19,285.66.

The Nasdaq, however, retreated after hitting a record high as megacap stocks weighed.

Financial stocks such as Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan Chase (NYSE:JPM ) jumped 2.7% and 1.5%, respectively. An index tracking regional banks was up 2.4%.

Shares of financial companies were the biggest boost to the Dow.

The small-cap Russell 2000 rose 1%, trading at its highest level since last November, with the sector expected to be a key beneficiary of President-elect Donald Trump's proposed tax cuts and expectations of an easier regulatory environment.

The three main Wall Street indexes soared in the previous week as Trump retook the White House. The benchmark S&P 500 briefly crossed the 6,000 mark on Friday and the Dow touched 44,000 points for the first time.

Crypto stocks rallied as bitcoin soared past $81,000 on Monday. Coinbase Global (NASDAQ:COIN ) jumped 12.6% and bitcoin miners MARA Holdings and Riot Platforms (NASDAQ:RIOT ) gained 16.7% and 15.8%, respectively.

"This is very much a continuation of a post-election sigh of relief rally," said Art Hogan, chief market strategist, B Riley Wealth. "The second piece of the puzzle is that the Fed cuts rates again."

The U.S. Federal Reserve cut interest rates by 25 basis points as expected last week, and investors see a 65.1% chance of the same move at its December meeting, according to CME FedWatch.

Stocks are on solid footing as the year-end nears, with the benchmark index already up more than 25% year-to-date as AI enthusiasm and the start of Fed rate cuts have supported an upbeat outlook.

Focus will be on consumer price inflation data, due Wednesday, and a raft of other key data this week.

"The Fed has told us that the risk to their outlook is balanced and that things that they focus on are full employment and stable prices, the stable prices mandate certainly would have all eyes glued to the CPI," Hogan said.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV ) fell 11.7% after the drugmaker's experimental schizophrenia drug failed to meet the main goal of two mid-stage trials.



Advancing issues outnumbered decliners for a 2.11-to-1 ratio on the NYSE and a 1.55-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.

The S&P 500 posted 82 new 52-week highs and seven new lows, while the Nasdaq Composite recorded 210 new highs and 37 new lows.

Source: Investing.com