By Yasin Ebrahim
Investing.com – The Dow closed at a record high Wednesday, as value sectors like energy and industrials continue to gather steam amid expectations that another round of stimulus and the ongoing vaccine roll out will spur a stronger economic recovery.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 1.4%, or 424 points, at a record high of 31,961.86 after hitting an intraday high 31,978.90. The S&P 500 was up 1.1%, while the Nasdaq Composite gained 0.%.
Energy, up more 3%, led the move higher in cyclical stocks as oil prices shrugged off an unexpected build in the crude stockpiles on expectations of a boost to demand from a stronger recovery.
Crude inventories increased 1.28 million barrels last week, compared with analysts' expectations for a draw of 5.19 million barrels. The move coincided with a draw in gasoline and distillate stocks as refinery activity slowed during the recent cold snap that battered oil-rich Texas.
Marathon Oil (NYSE:MRO), EOG Resources (NYSE:EOG) and Occidental Petroleum (NYSE:OXY) were among the biggest gainers, with the latter up 8%.
Forecasting above above-consensus economic growth in 2021, Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS) said performance "would benefit from improved growth expectations and a continued rotation into economically-sensitive cyclical equities."
Industrials were also firmer, with airlines leading to the upside on expectations for a surge in travel demand when the economy full reopens and further fiscal support to the aviation industry.
United Airlines Holdings (NASDAQ:UAL) and Boeing (NYSE:BA) closed up more than 8%, and American Airlines (NASDAQ:AAL) up nearly 6% on the day.
Positive vaccine news also added to the bullish bets on stocks as the Food and Drug Administration said Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ)'s single shot Covid-19 vaccine was safe and effective ahead of vote later this week on whether to grant emergency use authorization, with doses expected to roll out next week.
Tech stocks, which have been abandoned on fears about rising inflation, found some reprieve amid a jump in chip stocks ahead of Nvidia (NASDAQ:NVDA)'s quarterly results due later.
But big tech remained sluggish as Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL), Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN) and Facebook (NASDAQ:FB) closed lower. Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) and Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) were higher.
Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA), meanwhile, pared some its losses from a day earlier, up about 6% after Ark investment manager Cathie Wood revealed she had bought $120 million of the electric automaker's shares following a rout on Tuesday.
In other news the so-called meme stocks rallied strongly. GameStop Corp (NYSE:GME) jumped more than 100% to close above $90, while AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc (NYSE:AMC) surged 18%. The surge in Gamestop comes on reports its chief financial officer Jim Bell is set to leave amid pressure from board member Ryan Cohen. Cohen recently joined the company, to help it grow its digital business.