Wall Street marches on as Dow Jones hits new high

Wall Street surged yesterday, with the Dow industrials and S&P 500 hitting fresh records, as equities continued their march upward after the election of Donald Trump as US president, and a new high for transportation stocks added to the bullish tone.

European shares also climbed, with the regional banking index hitting an 11-month peak after Credit Suisse announced further cost cuts and Italian banks surged in their best two-day run since mid-2011.

The Stoxx Europe 600 Banks index was up 2.3 per cent after touching its highest level since January, supported by a 7.4 per cent rise in Credit Suisse after the Swiss bank announced more than 1 billion Swiss francs in extra cost cuts.

Italian banks rose 4.4 per cent after sources told Reuters that Italy was preparing to take a €2 billion controlling stake in Monte dei Paschi di Siena.

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DUBLIN

The European-wide rally in financials played out at home with

Bank of Ireland

and

Permanent TSB

both closing up.

Bank of Ireland

rose 1.7 per cent to 23.5 cents while

Permanent TSB

increased nearly 4 per cent to €2.80.

Elsewhere, media group INM fell by 2.4 per cent to 12 cents following a 5 per cent hike in the previous session. The stock was lifted this week by news of a planned capital restructuring.

Insurer FBD rose 0.8 per cent to €6.10 having been up by 2.6 per cent earlier in the day after a positive broker's note.

Insulation maker Kingspan was also buoyed by the global rally and the promise by US president-elect Donald Trump's of a big capital building programme, rising 2.5 per cent to €25.90.

Iseq heavyweight Ryanair was down 1 per cent at €14.04 while Smurfit Kappa was up 1.5 per cent at €21.18.

LONDON

More than £30 billion was added to the value of the UK’s biggest companies amid reports that Italy may take a controlling stake in troubled banking giant Monte dei Paschi di Siena.

The FTSE 100 Index closed up 1.8 per cent to 6,902.23, as British banking shares soared following speculation that Italy would buy up a €2 billion slice of the world’s oldest lender.

Shares in Lloyds Banking Group were up more than 4 per cent , while Standard Chartered rose 4 per cent and HSBC climbed about 3 per cent.

Miner Rio Tinto was the biggest riser on the London market, climbing 6 per cent following an upgrade from Credit Suisse to outperform from neutral.

EUROPE

Italian banks are now up nearly 14 per cent since Monday’s close, making their biggest two-day rally since July 2011. Shares in

Monte dei Paschi

rose 10.8 percent, a day after Italian banks jumped 9 per cent on short-covering before a

European Central Bank

meeting this week.

Germany’s Dax rose to a one-year high while France’s Cac hit its loftiest level in 11 months.

Italy’s FTSE MIB index rose to its highest point in more than 6 months.

Elsewhere, Dutch mail carrier PostNL slumped 13 per cent after it rejected the latest takeover offer from Belgium's Bpost , citing political concerns.

NEW YORK

All three major indexes finished more than 1 per cent higher.

The gains came even as Mr Trump’s comments on prescription drug pricing wounded the healthcare sector. US equities have scaled new highs since the election, with investors encouraged by his plans for economic stimulus and to reduce corporate taxes and regulations.

The Dow Jones industrial average rose 297.84 points, or 1.55 per cent, to 19,549.62; the S&P 500 gained 29.12 points, or 1.32 per cent, to 2,241.35; and the Nasdaq added 60.76, or 1.14 per cent, to 5,393.76.

Healthcare shares slipped 0.8 per cent, the only one of 11 S&P 500 groups to retreat. Pfizer fell 1.2 per cent for the steepest slide in the Dow. – (Additional reporting: Reuters)