The Dow Jones Industrial Average rallied on Tuesday, breaking above 30,000 for the first time ever, as the momentum rally in beaten-down value stocks continued amid positive COVID-19 coronavirus vaccine news.
Vaccine optimism, combined with another solid read on U.S. home prices drove a broad market rally led by Dow members General Electric, Bank of America and Boeing. The S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller index report for September showed home prices rose 6.6% year-over-year, making for their biggest annual increase since April 2018.
The 30-stock Dow advanced 512 points, or 1.7%. At its high of the day, it traded at 30,116.51.
Meanwhile, the S&P 500 climbed 1.5%, putting it on pace for a record closing high, and the Nasdaq Composite advanced 1%.The small-cap Russell 2000 also hit an all-time high.
Tuesday’s gains put the Dow up more than 13% for the month, which would be its biggest monthly gain since 1987. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq are up 11.2% and 10.1%, respectively, in November. It would be the Nasdaq’s and S&P 500′s best monthly performances since April.
AstraZeneca said Monday interim analysis showed its vaccine has an average efficacy of 70%. Earlier this month, Pfizer and BioNTech also posted strong vaccine data along with Moderna.
MacDailyNews Take: Hopefully the COVID vaccines will arrive on a widespread basis even more quickly than many thought possible earlier this year as the U.S.’s Operation Warp Speed accelerates the development and, importantly, the manufacture of millions upon millions of doses by funding steps to proceed simultaneously versus the usual, significantly slower sequential process.