ALBAWABA – The Dow Jones hit a new high as yet another Wall Street rally drove stocks worldwide higher Tuesday through Wednesday, with the S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 already at record levels.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at a record for the fifth straight session, piling on more than 250 points or 0.7 percent to end at 37,557.92, according to Agence France-Presse (AFP).
The broad-based S&P 500 climbed 0.6 percent to 4,768.37, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index jumped 0.7 percent to 15,003.22.
Stocks worldwide were mostly up on Wednesday, with Wall Street in the lead, having closed higher on Tuesday.
The Dow Jones was last reportedly up 0.68 percent, according to Bloomberg, at 1510 Amman Time, and the S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 were both up 0.59 percent and 0.66 percent, respectively.
Among individual companies, Google parent Alphabet gained 0.7 percent, shrugging off an antitrust settlement in which the tech giant agreed to pay $700 million.
The settlement will also require the Google Play app store to reduce competition barriers for developers, as reported by AFP.
Another Wall Street rally drove the Dow Jones index to yet another new high - Shutterstock
Meanwhile, US Steel fell 2.5 percent after three Republican senators, including Ohio's JD Vance, urged the rejection of its acquisition by Japan's Nippon Steel. Domestic steel production is "vital to US national security", they said.
Shares of US Steel rocketed 26 percent higher on Monday after the deal.
On the other hand, getting the US dollar right is key for analysts and investors, Reuters explained, given the American currency's central role in global finance.
For the US, a weak dollar would make exports more competitive abroad and boost the profits of multinationals by making it cheaper to convert their foreign profits into dollars. About a quarter of S&P 500 companies generate more than 50 percent of revenues outside the US, according to FactSet data, as reported by Reuters.
On the other hand, the US economy outperforming peers worldwide, while headed towards a soft landing, will continue to baffle bearish traders.
A seemingly inexplicably bullish market under the current global economic conditions offers little consolation for those betting against Wall Street. The prospects of lower interests and the stimulation it would bring to the economy are enough, it seems, to fuel such a Wall Street rally.
