Wall St. Set to Hit Records as Rally Continues
Wall Street's three main indexes were set to hit records again on Tuesday as the post-election rally continues, with investors buying into a market primed to benefit from President-elect Donald Trump's pro-growth policies.
Stock have rallied since the election on Nov. 8 as Trump has promised tax cuts, higher spending on infrastructure and simpler regulations in the banking and healthcare industries.
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.
"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.
Dow e-minis were up 44 points, or 0.23 percent at 8:26 a.m. ET, with 24,387 contracts changing hands.
S&P 500 e-minis were up 4.5 points, or 0.21 percent, with 140,579 contracts traded.
Nasdaq 100 e-minis were up 19 points, or 0.39 percent, on volume of 22,881 contracts.
"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.
Shares of Medtronic tumbled 6.1 percent at $75.67 premarket after the medical device maker reported quarterly revenue that missed expectations and cut its full-year adjusted earnings forecast.
Dollar Tree surged 8.6 percent to $89.04 after the biggest U.S. dollar-store chain reported a better-then-expected quarterly profit.
Palo Alto dropped 11.21 percent to $143 after the cybersecurity firm's current-quarter revenue forecast missed the average analysts' estimate.
Economic data on tap for Tuesday includes a report that is likely to show existing home sales dropped 0.5 percent to 5.43 million units in October. The report is due at 10:00 a.m. ET.
(Reporting by Yashaswini Swamynathan in Bengaluru; Editing by Anil D'Silva and Savio D'Souza)