The US stock markets hit historical highs yesterday after President-elect Joe Biden began choosing the members of his future cabinet and after President Donald Trump's decision to initiate the transition process.
Biden pegged former Federal Reserve Chairwoman Janet Yellen to be the US Treasury Secretary, a move that has been seen as a positive one by the market.
“She’s highly competent and she has a long history in basically understanding what monetary policy can do for the recovery and the limitations of monetary policy,” said an analyst at Vontobel Wealth Management.
Biden's team also nominated Tony Blinken for Secretary of State, and John Kerry for the climate envoy post.
So far, 12,956,783 COVID-19 cases and 265,943 deaths have been reported in the United States. The US remains the most affected country in the world, followed by India, Brazil and Russia. Dr. Anthony Fauci told a news outlet that he predicts the number of COVID-19 deaths to be 300,000 by the end of the year.
There is continued optimism after COVID-19 vaccine candidates were announced by Pfizer, Moderna and Oxford-AstraZeneca. Several countries are now involved in the logistics of acquiring and transporting the necessary number of dosages in order to immunize the local population, while the companies try to get approval from the relevant agencies.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 1.54 percent during the session and closed at the 30,046.24 level - its highest level in history - followed by the S&P 500, which gained 1.62 percent and closed at the 3,635.41 level. The NASDAQ 100 gained 1.46 percent during the session and closed at the 12,079.81 level, followed by the NYSE Composite, which gained 1.79 percent and closed at the 14,249.50 level.