Wall Street Hits New Highs As Optimism Rises

In a concrete sign that the worst of the damage from the coronavirus pandemic may be over for the airline industry, Delta Air Lines, Southwest Airlines and JetBlue Airways said leisure bookings were rising.

Gains in the major indexes accelerated near the end of the trading session.

The S&P 1500 airlines index jumped over 4 percent to a one-year high, while other travel-related stocks, including Carnival, Wynn Resorts and MGM Resorts jumped between 2 percent and 5percent.

It was the Dow's sixth straight record high close in a recent surge fueled by mass vaccinations and congressional approval of a US$1.9 trillion aid bill. Expectations of a recovery accelerated demand for stocks expected to outperform as the economy reopens, such as banks, energy, materials companies.

"With the vaccine positive news and the stimulus, we think there will continue to be a fair amount of rotation out of the stay-at-home stocks," said Greg Bassuk, CEO of AXS Investments. "We are bullish on financial services and energy coming out of the pandemic."

The S&P 500 has gained almost 6 percent in 2021, while the Dow has added nearly 8 percent.

At the end of Fed's two-day meeting on Wednesday, policymakers are expected to forecast that the US economy will grow in 2021 at its fastest rate in decades while reiterating their dovish stance for the foreseeable future.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.53 percent to end at 32,953 points, while the S&P 500 gained 0.65 percent to 3,969.

The Nasdaq Composite climbed 1.05 percent to 13,460. It remains down almost 5 percent from its February 12 record high close..

Tesla rose about 2 percent after the company dubbed chief executive Elon Musk "Technoking of Tesla" in a formal regulatory filing.

Eli Lilly shares slumped 9.1 percent after a mid-stage trial testing its experimental Alzheimer's drug led to "mixed" results, reducing the chances for the drug's accelerated approval, according to analysts. (Reuters)