US Market closes at record highs

The US stocks finished session higher on Tuesday, 01 December 2020, with the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq hit record highs, amid continued optimism about a potential coronavirus vaccine and better-than-expected factory data from China. Positive sentiment also have been generated on increasing hopes for US fiscal stimulus after a bipartisan group of US lawmakers proposed a US$908 billion Covid-19 relief bill. However, market gained capped after report from the Institute for Supply Management showing a slowdown in the pace of growth in U.S. manufacturing activity.

At the close of trade, the Dow Jones Industrial Average index advanced 185.28 points, or 0.63%, to 29,823.92. The S&P 500 index added 40.82 points, or 1.13%, to 3,662.45. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index rose 156.37 points, or 1.28%, to 12,355.11.

The strength on Wall Street partly due to updates on a handful of leading vaccine candidates as well as the start of global shipments as drugmakers submit paperwork for regulatory approvals. Pfizer (PFE) and BioNTech (BNTX) applied to the European Medicines Agency for conditional marketing authorization of their vaccine.

Earlier in the day, global equities got a boost from data that showed China's factory activity in November increased at its fastest pace in a decade. Several other countries also reported sharp upticks in factory activity.

Pfizer (+2.9%) and BioNTech (-8.2%) sought emergency approval of their vaccine candidate from the European regulator. Shares of Apple rose 3.1%, but Zoom Video shares tumbled 15.1% after warning of gross margin pressure.

ECONOMIC NEWS: US Construction Spending Jumps By 1.3% In October- US construction spending jumped by 1.3% to an annual rate of $1.439 trillion in October after falling by 0.5% to a revised rate of $1.420 trillion in September, a report released by the Commerce Department on Tuesday showed. The bigger than expected increase in construction spending came as spending on private construction surged up by 1.4% to an annual rate of $1.094 trillion. Spending on residential construction spiked by 2.9% to a rate of $637.1 billion, more than offsetting a 0.7% drop in spending on non-residential construction to a rate of $456.6 billion.

U.S. factory activity slows in November- The Institute for Supply Management (ISM) said on Tuesday its index of national factory activity dropped to a reading of 57.5 last month from of 59.3 in October, amid a resurgence in COVID-19 infections across the country. A reading above 50 indicates expansion in manufacturing.

Among Indian ADR, Dr Reddys Labs added 0.38% to $65.84, HDFC Bank added 1.78% to $70.23, Wipro added 1.55% to $5.23, INFOSYS added 1.05% to $15.38, WNS Holdings added 0.33% to $70.64, Tata Motors added 5.28% to $12.57, Vedanta rose 2.9% to $6.75, and ICICI Bank inclined 4.12% to $13.39. Azure Power Global fell 3.22% to $36.63.

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