Dow Hits Record High 3rd Straight Day on Cheer Over COVID-19 Relief Checks

NEW YORK (Sputnik) –  The Dow Jones Industrial Average, Wall Street’s broadest stock barometer, hit record highs for a third day in a row on Wednesday, as investors cheered benign US inflation data and the imminent arrival of COVID-19 relief checks for Americans.

The Dow, which hit all-time highs on Monday and Tuesday, increased 1.5 percent to close at 32,297, after reaching a peak of 32,390.

The rally in stocks came after the Labor Department reported that the Consumer Price Index grew by just 0.4 percent in February, despite concerns that price pressures may be building a lot faster than wages and employment amid recovery from the coronavirus pandemic.

Wall Street was also spurred by President Joe Biden’s $1.9 trillion “American Rescue Plan”, which passed the House of Representatives on Wednesday and is due to be signed by him before the end of the week, enabling one-time payments of $1,400 for most US citizens.

The S&P 500, barometer for the top 500 US stocks, rose 0.6 percent to settle at 3,898.

The  Nasdaq Composite Index was the laggard of the day, settling flat at 13,068. The index, which consists of heavyweight tech names such as Facebook, Apple, Amazon, Netflix and Google, had slumped in recent weeks on concerns about overvaluation in most of its stocks.

Sourse: sputniknews.com