The Dow and the Nasdaq hit record highs on Tuesday, with the bluechip index just 13 points shy of the 20,000 mark, a level it has never scaled. Goldman Sachs, which was up about 1 percent, gave the biggest boost to the Dow. US stocks have been on a tear since the November 8 presidential election, with the Dow up 9 percent and S&P more than 6 percent on bets that President-elect Donald Trump's plans for deregulation and infrastructure spending will boost the economy.
"It's just the momentum since the election," said Jeff Zipper, managing director for investments at Private Client Reserve at US Bank in Palm Beach, Florida. "The market is focused on the Trump agenda, which is tax cuts, infrastructure spending and deregulation. There's not a lot of selling going on." However, trading volumes were muted as the last full trading week before the holiday season gets underway where movements may be pronounced.
The S&P 500 is trading at 17.9 times forward 12-month earnings, above the 10-year median of 14.7 times, according to StarMine data. At 11:08 am ET (1608 GMT) the Dow Jones industrial average was up 83.92 points, or 0.42 percent, at 19,966.98. The S&P 500 was up 8.69 points, or 0.38 percent, at 2,271.22. The index came within 5 points of its record high. The Nasdaq Composite was up 25.67 points, or 0.47 percent, at 5,483.11.