The US Stock Market Closed At New Record Highs

The US Stock Market Closed At New Record Highs

The US stock market strengthened on Tuesday and the S&P 500, Nasdaq and Russell 2000 indices closed at new record highs. Investors were encouraged by optimistic information about coronavirus vaccines, as well as reports that US lawmakers and the White House are making progress in negotiations on a new stimulus for the US economy. US regulators have published a positive preliminary evaluation of the COVID-19 vaccine developed by Pfizer and BioNTech. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) will meet on Thursday to decide whether to approve the distribution of the vaccine. The S&P index rose 0.3 percent to 3,702.25 points and the Dow Jones industrial index rose 0.4 percent to 30,173.88 points. The technology Nasdaq gained 0.5 percent and closed at 12,582.77 points. The Russell 2000 index of smaller companies also improved, by 1.4 percent to 1,917.78 points. Asian stock markets rose sharply on Wednesday after major Wall Street indexes reached new highs. In addition, Japan released data showing that engineering orders in the country were at a high level in October. Tokyo's main Nikkei 225 index rose 1.3 percent to 26,817.94 points and the Hong Kong Hang Seng index rose 0.67 percent. However, China's Shanghai Composite Index weakened 1.1 percent after reports that consumer prices in China fell 0.5 percent year on year in November.