US STOCKS-S&P 500, Nasdaq at record as vaccine hope eclipses poor data
*Boeing jumps on Ryanair’s 737 MAX jet orders. By Shriya Ramakrishnan and Medha Singh. Boeing Co jumped about 6% after budget airline Ryanair ordered 75 additional 737 MAX jets with a catalogue value of $9 billion, throwing a commercial lifeline to the embattled U.S. planemaker.
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* Boeing jumps on Ryanair’s 737 MAX jet orders
* Jobless claims fall after rising for two straight weeks
* Goldman Sachs raises Tesla to “buy”
* 3M ticks higher on 2,900 jobs cut news
* Indexes up: Dow 0.4%, S&P 0.3%, Nasdaq 0.7%(Adds comment, details; updates prices)
By Shriya Ramakrishnan and Medha Singh
Dec 3 (Reuters) – The S&P 500 and Nasdaq touched all-timehighs on Thursday as hopes of a swift COVID-19 vaccine-drivenrecovery and economic stimulus eased immediate worries aboutrising coronavirus cases and dismal economic data.
Boeing Co jumped about 6% after budget airlineRyanair ordered 75 additional 737 MAX jets with acatalogue value of $9 billion, throwing a commercial lifeline tothe embattled U.S. planemaker.
Heavyweight Tesla Inc’s 3% gain provided thebiggest support for the Nasdaq after Goldman Sachs upgraded thestock to “buy” in the run-up to the electric-car maker’saddition to the S&P 500.
The number of Americans filing first-time claims for joblessbenefits fell last week, but remained extraordinarily high at712,000 while a separate survey showed U.S. services industryactivity slowed to a six-month low in November.
“As long as the timeline for the vaccine roll out continuesto make sense investors are willing to look past near-termweakness in the economy and a growing number of COVID cases thatcould very well grow over the next several weeks,” said MichaelSheldon, executive director and chief investment officer of RDMFinancial Group at Hightower.
There were also early signs that a $908 billion bipartisanproposal could be gaining traction as a negotiating tool, eventhough Republicans and Democrats in Congress remained unable tosmooth out differences over the next coronavirus relief package.
The head of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control andPrevention warned on Wednesday the country will face thegrimmest health crisis yet over the next few months.
At 10:26 a.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Averagerose 119.10 points, or 0.40%, to 30,002.89, the S&P 500gained 10.22 points, or 0.28%, to 3,679.23 and the NasdaqComposite gained 80.29 points, or 0.65%, to 12,429.65.
Seven of the 11 major S&P sectors were higher, withindustrial and real estate sectors postingthe sharpest percentage gains.
Financials, utilities and consumer stapleswere in the red.
Progress in developing a working COVID-19 vaccine before theend of the year has driven the Wall Street’s main indexes torecord levels recently.
Industrial conglomerate 3M Co’s shares gained 0.4%as the company unveiled plans to cut about 2,900 jobs globallyand scale back on investments in slower-growing markets as partof a restructuring.
Cloud-security provider Zscaler Inc advanced 11% asit reported better-than-expected first-quarter revenue andadjusted profit.
Waddell & Reed Financial surged 49%, extending gainsfrom the previous session, after Australia’s Macquarie Groupannounced a deal to buy the wealth manager for $1.7billion.
Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 2.1-to-1 ratioon the NYSE and by a 1.7-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.
The S&P 500 posted 23 new 52-week highs and no new low whilethe Nasdaq recorded 192 new highs and six new lows.(Reporting by Shriya Ramakrishnan and Medha Singh in Bengaluru;Editing by Saumyadeb Chakrabarty and Anil D’Silva)