S&P, Nasdaq open December to new highs

U.S. stock markets opened December with strong gains, building on a rally that has continued to gain steam amid positive news about the availability of vaccines later next year and certainty over what the elections have delivered to Washington.

The S&P 500 closed up 41 points, or 1.1 percent, reaching 3,662, and the Nasdaq composite closed up 156 points, or 1.3 percent, at 12,355, both records. The Dow Jones Industrial Average, reversing some of Monday’s losses, jumped 185 points, or 0.6 percent, but remained below its 30,000 peak from last week.

November saw the markets continue to rise as Joe Biden clinched the presidency and pharmaceutical companies Pfizer and Moderna applied for emergency use authorizations for COVID-19 vaccines that proved highly effective in clinical trials.

The markets saw some setbacks amid soaring COVID-19 cases, which continue to break records and cause previously unseen levels of hospitalizations and a growing death toll.

But they have largely rallied on, despite economic data showing a slowdown in the recovery and a congressional deadlock over a fifth COVID-19 relief bill.

Updated at 4:03 p.m.