Investing.com – Wall Street rallied to record highs on Thursday, amid bullish expectations on tax reform while a bevy of mostly upbeat economic fuelled a rally in financials.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed higher at 24,272. The S&P 500 closed 0.82% higher while the Nasdaq Composite closed at 6873.97, up 0.73%.
Investors hopes grew of tax reform being passed before the end of the year after Sen. John McCain announced his support of the Senate's tax bill, greatly increasing its chances of passage through the congressional body.
That lifted stocks of financials, mostly banks, as JPMorgan (NYSE:JPM), Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) and Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS) added to early session gains which followed the release of upbeat economic data.
The Core Price Consumer Expenditure (PCE) Index – the Fed’s preferred measure of inflation – rose 1.4% in October year-on-year, compared to a 1.3% rise in the previous month, while September inflation was revised upward to 1.4% from 1.3%.
On the jobs data front, number of individuals who filed for unemployment insurance for the week ended Nov. 25, fell by 2,000 to 238,000.
Consumer spending, which accounts for more than two-thirds of U.S. economic activity, rose 0.3% in line with economists’ expectations.
Technology stocks, meanwhile, rebounded as investors appeared to take advantage of the selloff in tech stocks on Wednesday.
Also adding to the positive sentiment on equities was in energy stocks after OPEC non-OPEC members agreed to extend production cuts through 2018. Crude prices settled slight higher at $57.40 per barrel.
'Bulls and Bears' on Wall Street
The top Dow gainers for the session: Boeing (NYSE:BA) up 2.8%, United Technologies Corporation (NYSE:UTX) up 2.8% and UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH) up 2.7%
General Electric (NYSE:GE) down 1%, Cisco Systems Inc (NASDAQ:CSCO) down 0.5% and Walt Disney Company (NYSE:DIS) down 0.4%, were among the worst Dow performers of the session.