Wall Street gains touch record highs

Wall Street’s main indexes rose on Tuesday to record highs on the back of strong corporate earnings.
The U. S. seasons continued to lift sentiment for equities, while investors await a critical Federal Reserve meeting.


The S&P 500 and Nasdaq notched record closing highs for a fourth successive session, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average posted its third successive high close and ended above 36,000 for the first time.

Pfizer shares rose 4.1% after the drugmaker said it expected 2021 sales of the COVID-19 vaccine it developed with German partner BioNTech to reach $36 billion.

Q3 earnings have come in better-than-expected for U.S. companies as the economy continues to bounce back from the coronavirus pandemic. With some 320 companies having reported so far, S&P 500 earnings are expected to have climbed 40.2% in 2020.


The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 138.79 points, or 0.39%, to 36,052.63, the S&P 500 gained 16.98 points, or 0.37%, to 4,630.65 and the Nasdaq Composite added 53.69 points, or 0.34%, to 15,649.60.

Nine of 11 S&P 500 sectors ended positive with materials leading the way, up 1.1%. The energy sector fell 1%.

The U. S. Fed on Wednesday is expected to approve plans to taper its $120 billion monthly bond-buying program put in place to help the economy during the pandemic. Investors will also be focused on commentary about interest rates and how sustained the recent surge in inflation is.