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Stocks rose on Wednesday as gains in major tech names such as Apple and Microsoft led the way even as coronavirus cases keep rising at a record pace.
The Dow Jones Industrials spent the early afternoon in minus country, but recovered 176 points to close at 26,066.188.
The S&P 500 gained 24.62 points, or 1.6% to 3,169.94, and posted an all-time closing high.
The tech-heavy NASDAQ chugged ahead 148.61 points, or 1.4%, to 10,492.50, also notching a record closing high.
Apple rose 2.3% to a record high after a Deutsche Bank analyst hiked his price target on the stock. Microsoft shares gained 2.2% and Netflix climbed nearly 2%. Amazon closed 2.7% higher.
Names that would benefit from the economy reopening were under pressure for most of the day before rebounding in the final hour of trading. United fell as much as 3.8% after the company warned 36,000 employees about potential job cuts. The stock recovered to close just below the flatline.
Wednesday’s move higher comes even as the U.S. reported a record daily spike of more than 60,000 coronavirus cases on Tuesday. That latest surge brought the total number of confirmed U.S. cases to nearly three million, according to Johns Hopkins University.
Coronavirus-related deaths have risen to more than 131,000 in the U.S., according to Hopkins.
Prices for the 10-Year Treasury were up, dropping yields to 0.66% from Tuesday’s 0.67%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices regained 23 cents to $40.85 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices added $8.80 to $1,818.70 U.S. an ounce.
