US Market closes at record highs

The US stocks climbed higher on Tuesday, 08 December 2020, with the S&P 500 and technology-heavy Nasdaq Composite closed at new record highs, as risk sentiment was boosted by news that US Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell plans further stimulus talks with the White House.

At the close of trade, the Dow Jones Industrial Average index advanced 248.74 points, or 0.83%, to 30,218.26. The S&P 500 index added 32.40 points, or 0.88%, to 3,699.12. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index grew 87.05 points, or 0.7%, to 12,464.23. For the week, the Nasdaq spiked by 2.1%, the S&P 500 surged up by 1.7% and the Dow shot up by 1%.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnel said that Republicans are looking for a streamed down version of a stimulus bill. The Republicans have backed off their demand for businesses to get coronavirus-related liability protections as part of a year-end rescue package.

Investors are closely watching whether policymakers will be able to clinch an agreement on a long-awaited coronavirus relief bill and a $1.4 trillion spending bill, with Friday eyed as a deadline to avoid a government shutdown. The U.S. Congress will vote this week on a one-week stopgap funding bill to provide more time for lawmakers to reach a deal on both spending and pandemic relief.

The Food and Drug Administration concluded in detailed analysis from the Pfizer vaccine being considered for U.S. distribution met the criteria in a clinical study, paving the for approval. An outside panel of scientific advisers will review the FDA report. The board is expected to be followed within a few days by the FDA granting emergency authorization for the vaccine.

Health-care stocks rallied on news that the U.K. began administering doses of the vaccine developed by Pfizer and Germany's BioNTech. Shares of Moderna climbed 6.5% after Switzerland increased its confirmed orders for its COVID-19 vaccine doses to 7.5 million. Johnson & Johnson gained after the company said it could obtain late-stage trial results of a single-dose COVID-19 vaccine it is developing, earlier than expected. Pfizer Inc also rose 3.2% as it cleared the next hurdle in the race to get its COVID-19 vaccine approved for emergency use, after the U.S. health regulator released documents raising no new safety or efficacy issues.

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