Breaking: S&P 500 climbs above 3,000 points for the time since late February

Eren Sengezer FXStreet

Major equity indexes in the US opened sharply higher following a three-day weekend and the S&P 500 surged above 3,000 points for the first time since February 24th.

As of writing, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 2.3% at 25,032 points, the S&P 500 was gaining 2.1% at 3,017 points and the Nasdaq Composite was rising 1.4% at 9,542 points.

Risk-on flows lift stocks higher

Reflecting the upbeat market mood on Tuesday, the CBOE Volatility Index, Wall Street's fear gauge, is down 2.35% on a daily basis.

Among the 11 major S&P 500 sectors, the Financials Index is up 3.85% as the top performer. The Industrial and the Real Estate indexes are both gaining more than 3% as well.

Heightened optimism surrounding a coronavirus vaccine seems to be fueling stock markets' rally. Following Moderna, Novavax on Monday became the second company to announce that it started testing its experimental vaccine on humans. The company expects the initial results to be released in July.

Moreover, citing US health officials, Reuters reported last Friday that the US was planning to test potential coronavirus vaccines on more than 100,000 volunteers.

Author

Eren Sengezer

FXStreet

As an economist at heart, Eren Sengezer specializes in the assessment of the short-term and long-term impacts of macroeconomic data, central bank policies and political developments on financial assets.

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