By Jesse Cohen
Investing.com - Stocks closed at new record highs on Friday, with Wall Street posting another weekly gain amid ongoing optimism over Covid-19 vaccine progress and expectations for further stimulus.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 248 points, or 0.8%, to end the day at an all-time high of 30,218. The S&P 500 gained 0.9% to close at 3,699, also a new all-time high. The Nasdaq Composite meanwhile rallied 0.7% to settle at a record 12,464.
Friday’s rally drove the major indexes to their second weekly gain in a row. The Dow and S&P 500 jumped 1% and 1.7%, respectively, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq scored a gain of 2.1% over that time frame.
The market’s rally to record highs comes amid positive Covid-19 vaccine news as well as indications that the Federal Reserve is likely to strengthen its bond-buying program at the next FOMC meeting on December 16.
Investors will be watching fresh vaccine headlines in the week ahead. The Food and Drug Administration advisory committee meets Thursday on emergency use authorization for Pfizer’s Covid-19 vaccine candidate.
Markets will also be tested by a flurry of key U.S. economic data in the coming week, including Thursday’s jobless claims report. There is also CPI and PPI inflation data Thursday and Friday.
In earnings, there are just a few notable companies reporting their latest financial results as the third quarter earnings season winds down, including Costco (NASDAQ:COST), Broadcom (NASDAQ:AVGO), Oracle (NYSE:ORCL), and Adobe (NASDAQ:ADBE).