Wall Street at record highs, Dow tops 19,000 for first time

By Yashaswini Swamynathan

(Reuters) - Wall Street's three main indexes hit records again on Tuesday, with the Dow topping 19,000 points for the first time ever, as the Donald Trump-fueled rally continued, with investors buying into a market primed to benefit from his pro-growth policies.

The Dow, S&P 500, Nasdaq and small cap Russell 2000 indexes all closed at record highs on Monday, the first such instance since December 1999.

Trump's promises of tax cuts, higher spending on infrastructure and simpler regulations in the banking and healthcare industries have led a rally, especially in those sectors, since the election on Nov. 8.

"Optimism is returning because of the potential that exists in the form of fiscal stimulus, infrastructure spending and tax cuts and is renewing confidence on the part of investors and consumers," said Robert Pavlik, chief market strategist at Boston Private Wealth in New York.

The consumer discretionary sector was up 0.66 percent, leading the gainers among the 11 major S&P sectors, boosted by strong reports from Dollar Tree and Signet Jewelers.

The healthcare sector was the only laggard, dropping 0.74 percent, weighed down by Medtronic.

At 9:32 a.m. ET (1432 GMT) the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 37.39 points, or 0.2 percent, at 18,994.08, easing after hitting an all-time high of 19,013.12.

The S&P 500 was up 4.46 points, or 0.2 percent, at 2,202.64. It hit a record level of 2,203.53.

The Nasdaq Composite was up 16.93 points, or 0.32 percent, at 5,385.79, after touching a high of 5,390.23.

"The rally has been broad based with not any one sector being left behind and that's a very positive sign for the markets," Pavlik said.

The S&P 500 financial sector has risen more than 11 percent since the election, leading the gainers among the 11 major sectors. Industrials have increased 5.6 percent.

Dollar Tree surged more than 10 percent surged 9.4 percent to $89.64 after the biggest U.S. dollar-store chain reported a better-then-expected quarterly profit.

Signet also rose 10 percent after the jeweler reported a smaller-than-expected drop in same-store sales and raised its profit forecast.

Medtronic tumbled 7.5 percent to $74.5 after the medical device maker reported quarterly revenue that missed expectations and cut its full-year adjusted earnings forecast.

Advancing issues outnumbered decliners on the NYSE by 1,983 to 668. On the Nasdaq, 1,304 issues rose and 964 fell.

The S&P 500 index showed 37 new 52-week highs and one new lows, while the Nasdaq recorded 120 new highs and six new lows.

(Reporting by Yashaswini Swamynathan in Bengaluru; Editing by Anil D'Silva and Savio D'Souza)