The Dow Jones index made history on Friday by topping 35,000 for the first time ever, as Megacap tech stocks and buoyant corporate earnings helped US markets rally robustly. The index rose 238.20 points, or 0.7 percent, to breach its previous all-time high.
While Nasdaq Composite rose 152.39, or 1 percent, to close at 14,836.99, the S&P 500 index hit an all-time record of 4,411.79, marking a week in which all the three indexes finished with gains.
Moderna Surges
Vaccine maker Moderna was among the large corporations that made huge gains. Its shares jumped jumped 7.8 percent following news that the European Union approved its COVID-19 vaccine for 12- to 17-year-olds.
Facebook shares surged 5.3 percent ahead of the social media giant's second-quarter results next week. Twitter shares rose 3.0 percent on Friday.
Quarterly Profits
The smart gains for all three indices came after a setback earlier in the week when investors started fretting about the impact of the Delta variant of the coronavirus on the economy.
The more contagious Delta variant now accounts for more than 80 percent of new daily cases in the United States. The investors had also taken into account the fact that cases nearly tripled in the last two weeks.
Monday's plunge had seen the Dow recording its worst day since October last year. However, with companies reporting quarterly reports in the week, the sentiment turned positive, even as some investors chose to buy at the dips.
Manufacturing Hopes
Meanwhile, an IHS Markit report on on Friday showed that US manufacturing growth was poised to accelerate further in July.
"We're closing out the week on a very nice trade, and it's being driven by earnings primarily and earnings specifically in stocks that speak to the consumer, which is not a new story but it's a story that adds momentum to the trade in the second half of the year," Peter Kenny, founder of Kenny & Co LLC, told Reuters.
