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* S&P 500 on pace for biggest monthly percentage gain since
April
* Tesla market value crosses $500 billion
* Economically sensitive sectors jump
(Updates to market close)
By Chuck Mikolajczak
NEW YORK, Nov 24 (Reuters) - U.S. stocks rallied on Tuesday
and the Dow breached the 30,000 level for the first time, as
investors anticipated a 2021 economic recovery coronavirus
vaccine progress and the formal clearance for President-elect
Joe Biden's transition to the White House.
Each of the 11 major S&P sectors were higher, economically
sensitive stocks such as the financials .SPSY , materials
.SPLRCM and energy .SPNY names, while industrials .SPLRCI
hit a record.
President Donald Trump finally gave the green light for the
formal transfer of power to begin on Monday, a process that was
delayed for weeks despite Democrat Joe Biden emerging as the
clear winner in the U.S. elections. The General Services
Administration told Biden he could formally begin the hand-over
process. Sentiment this week was also boosted by reports that Biden
planned to nominate former Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen as
Treasury Secretary, which could shift the focus heavily toward
efforts to tackle growing economic inequality. Recent data suggesting a COVID-19 vaccine could be available
before the end of the year has put the S&P 500 .SPX on course
for its best monthly performance since April and sparked demand
for value-linked stocks that were hammered following the
coronavirus-driven crash earlier this year.
"A little bit of decreasing uncertainty on the election
front, the market seems pretty favorable on the Yellen
announcement, it just seems like one of those good days where
all things are moving a little higher," said Ross Mayfield,
investment strategy analyst at Baird.
"If 2020 has shown us anything it is that stock markets have
a tremendous ability to look past bad news if there is sun on
the horizon."
Unofficially, the Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI rose
454.57 points, or 1.54%, to 30,045.84, the S&P 500 .SPX gained
57.82 points, or 1.62%, to 3,635.41 and the Nasdaq Composite
.IXIC added 156.15 points, or 1.31%, to 12,036.79.
The Dow rose as high as 30,116.51 during the session.
U.S. officials said on Tuesday they plan to release 6.4
million COVID-19 vaccine doses nationwide in an initial
distribution after the first one is cleared by regulators for
emergency use. Electric-car maker Tesla Inc TSLA.O jumped to boost its
market value to over $500 billion, as investors lapped up its
shares in the run-up to its addition to the S&P 500 index.
Boeing Co BA.N gained after European regulators gave draft
approval to its 737 MAX jets, paving the way for a formal flight
clearance in January. BlackRock Inc, the world's largest asset manager, on Monday
upgraded U.S. equities to "overweight," turning bullish on
quality large-cap technology companies and small cap firms that
tend to perform well during a cyclical upswing. Still, with coronavirus cases surging by the day and
millions of Americans still unemployed, some analysts suggested
the U.S. stock market could be prone to a pullback and
volatility from record levels in the next few months.