Nasdaq, S&P 500 hit all-time highs as traders start December in a festive mood

Nasdaq, S&P 500 hit all-time highs as traders start December in a festive mood

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12:05 pm: Traders show optimism for latest stimulus proposal The Dow gained 236 points, 0.8%, to 29,875.3 at roughly noon ET. The Nasdaq Composite grew 147 points, 1.2%, to 12,344.2, and the S&P 500 climbed 43 points, 1.2%, to 3,664.9 — both hitting intraday trading highs.  "Bullish sentiment is doing the rounds in the US on the back of optimism for coronavirus drugs and hopes of a stimulus package," CMC Markets UK analyst David Madden wrote Tuesday. "A bipartisan $900 billion relief package bill has been put forward but is it unlikely to get much support as too many discrepancies exist. The fact that some numbers are being bandied about is a good sign. It was reported that Nancy Pelosi of the Democrats and Steven Mnuchin, the Treasury Secretary, will hold stimulus package talks tomorrow."  For the month of November as a whole, the Dow improved 11.8%, its best single-month showing since January 1987, per CNBC. 10:30 am: Proactive North America headlines: Canntab Therapeutics Limited (CSE:PILL) (OTCQB:CTABF) (FRA:TBF1.F) completes first delivery of five SKUs ordered by MediPharm Labs Corp NexTech AR Solutions Corp (OTCQB:NEXCF) (CSE:NTAR) (FRA:N29) grows Asia Pacific presence with seven new augmented reality partnerships WeedMD Inc (CVE:WMD) (OTCQX:WDDMF) (FRA:4WE) sees higher 3Q revenue as cultivation costs decline Avalon GloboCare Corp (NASDAQ:AVCO) featured in article running in Nature’s Biopharma Dealmaker December edition GlobeX Data Ltd (OTCQB:SWISF) (CSE:SWIS) launches new feature to allow subscribers to move their email accounts to its Swiss-hosted SekurMail platform Lexaria Bioscience Corp (OTCMKTS:LXRP) (CSE:LXX) encouraged by study results using its DehydraTECH platform to deliver antiviral drugs Zinc8 Energy Solutions Inc's (CSE:ZAIR) (OTCMKTS:MGXRF) (FRA:0E9technology selected to join prestigious accelerator program; appoints new CFO Vuzix Corporation (NASDAQ:VUZI) (FRA:V7XN) M400 Smart Glasses allow PGE Group to carry out faster maintenance at windfarms Ceylon Graphite Corp (CVE:CYL) (OTCMKTS:CYLUF) (FRA:CCY) resumes production at K1 mine in Sri Lanka as cornavirus restrictions are eased Thunderbird Entertainment Group Inc (CVE:TBRD) (OTCQX:THBRF) (FRA:32GA) delivers strong fiscal 1Q results reflecting demand for its production content 9.45am: Wall Street starts ahead The main indices on Wall Street started December on a positive note as traders appeared to be in a festive mood at the opening bell on Tuesday. In the early minutes of trading, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 1% at 29,947 while the S&P 500 climbed 0.94% to 3,655 and the Nasdaq rose 0.61% to 12,273. Optimism around vaccine developments appear to be overshadowing the bleak picture in the US for coronavirus cases, which are currently running at around 12.6mln cases and 268,000 deaths. Early winners of the session included computer data specialist Micron Technology Inc (NASDAQ:MU), which rose 3.7% to US$66.44 after the company increased its profit and revenue outlook for its first quarter. Also on the rise was Blackberry Ltd (NYSE:BB), which soared 32.5% to US$8.16 after unveiling a multi-year development agreement with Amazon Inc (NASDAQ:AMZN) web services arm. 8.00am: Wall Street to start December on the front foot  Yesterday, US indices fell as traders banked November’s handsome profits but Wall Street is expected to rise in the first trading session of December. November’s gains were fired by hopes that a vaccine to combat the coronavirus (COVID-19) and December is expected to show a similar theme. Spread betting quotes suggest the Dow Jones Industrial Average will open 318 points higher at 29,957; the S&P 500 is expected to jump 38 points to 3,660 and the NASDAQ Composite is tipped to advance 185 points to 12,384. Zoom Video Communications Inc (NASDAQ:ZM), arguably one of the hottest stocks of 2020, was on the rise in pre-market trading after posting third-quarter numbers after the bell yesterday. “On an annualised basis, revenue surged by 367% to US$777.2mln, topping the US$694mln consensus estimate. Keep in mind, in the previous quarter the company saw revenue growth of 355% and that highlights that growth momentum is strong. EPS was 99 cents, easily topping the 76 cents consensus estimate,” reported CMC’s David Madden. “Some people are speculating that if a vaccine is approved in the near term, it could take the shine off Zoom but in reality, it will probably take a long time for the drug to be mass-produced and rolled out. Therefore we are unlikely to see a return to pre-pandemic life anytime soon so that should keep Zoom’s demand elevated,” Madden suggested. On the US macroeconomic side of things, most interest today will centre on the ISM manufacturing index for November. “While the factory sector has recovered strongly in recent months, we suspect that last month’s ISM survey somewhat overstated the vigour. So mimicking the pull-back in yesterday’s Chicago PMI, we expect the headline index to decline 2.3pts to a still very respectable 57.0. The construction spending report for October and auto sales figures for November will also be of some interest. Meanwhile, Fed Chair Powell will testify on the CARES Act before the Senate Banking Committee,” said Daiwa Capital Markets. Four things to watch for on Tuesday: The company calendar for the first day of December will see third quarter earnings delivered from cloud software group Salesforce.com Inc (NYSE:CRM). Traders will also be looking out for any news on the firm’s reported deal to acquire workplace messaging platform Slack Also delivering figures on Tuesday is IT firm Hewlett Packard Enterprise Co (NYSE:HPE), which is scheduled to report numbers for its fourth quarter In the macro calendar, there may be eyes on the other side of the Atlantic as European Central Bank president Christine Lagarde makes a speech Meanwhile, there may also be some interest in a number of speeches from various senior figures in the Federal Reserve system

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