By Yasin Ebrahim
Investing.com – The Dow, S&P 500 and Nasdaq closed at record highs Wednesday, underpinned by Netflix-led rally in tech amid backdrop of growing optimism on further stimulus as Joe Biden was sworn in as U.S. President.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.83%, or 257 points to $31,188.38, above its previous all time high of 31,097.97. The S&P 500 was up 1.36% while the Nasdaq Composite gained 1.97%. Both the S&P 500 and Nasdaq also closed at all-time highs.
Investors continued to bet that Biden will get his $1.9 trillion stimulus through Congress even as hopes for bipartisan support appeared to suffer a setback. GOP Utah Senator Mitt Romney, a member of the bipartisan group of senators who supported the $900 billion stimulus program last month, said he was not "looking for a new program in the immediate future." Alaska Republican senator Lisa Murkowski, meanwhile, indicated she was not hurry to throw her support behind another stimulus, saying it would require a "fair amount" of debate.
Sentiment on stocks was also boosted by mostly better-than-expected quarterly results.
Among the notable reports for banks, Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) reported fourth-quarter results that topped analysts' expectations. Its share were largely unchanged on the day.
Bank of New York Mellon (NYSE:BK) slumped 7%, dragging the broader financials sector into the red, despite reporting better-than-expected results on the top and bottom lines for the fourth quarter.
Netflix (NASDAQ:NFLX), meanwhile, closed about 17% higher after it topped results and said it expected to be cash flow neutral this year and in subsequent years.
The positive upbeat guidance on free cash prompted bullish remarks from Wall Street analysts, though some questioned how much of the subscriber growth was pulled forward.
"[Netflix management] guide for 6 million 1Q21 net adds suggests a soft start … it remains unclear whether streaming growth will be subdued as the world (hopefully) emerges from COVID-19 later this year as dining out / travel / return-to-work habits and spending normalize," Credit Suisse (SIX:CSGN) said as it lifted its price target on the stock to $586 from $525.
The jump in tech comes just a week before Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) and Facebook (NASDAQ:FB) kick off earnings for big tech.
In other news, DraftKings (NASDAQ:DKNG) climbed more than 3% after Morgan Stanley upgraded its rating on the stock to overweight from equal weight on expectations for quarterly revenue to top estimates.