S&P 500 INDEX AND NASDAQ SET NEW HIGHS

Wall Street kicked off December with more milestones Tuesday after a broad rally for stocks pushed the S&P 500 and Nasdaq to new highs.

The S&P 500 gained 1.1 percent, with Big Tech companies and banks driving a big part of the rally. The strong opening to December follows a 10.8 percent surge for the broad index in November, marking its best month since April. The techheavy Nasdaq climbed 1.3 percent. Both indexes beat the record highs they set on Friday.

Stocks have been ramping higher in recent weeks as investors focus on the possibility that coronavirus vaccines could soon help usher in a fuller global economic recovery. Meanwhile, lawmakers in Washington are debating once more whether to deliver another round of coronavirus relief to the economy before President Donald Trump leaves office.

“It seems like both the House and the Senate are trying to break this log jam,” said Sameer Samana, senior global market strategist at Wells Fargo Investment Institute. “It seems the market is feeding off that.”

The S&P 500 rose 40.82 points to 3,662.45. The Dow gained 185.28 points, or 0.6 percent, to 29,823.92. The Nasdaq climbed 156.37 points to 12,355.11. Small company stocks also added to their recent gains. The Russell 2000 index picked up 16.23 points, or 0.9 percent, to 1,836.05.

While the economic recovery has been stunted by a resurgence of the virus, investors are looking past much of that because of good progress on vaccine development. Several pharmaceutical companies have reported encouraging data recently suggesting their vaccine candidates are highly effective, raising hopes on Wall Street that the economy will begin to turn around next year as the vaccines are distributed to a world beaten down by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Roughly 76 percent of the companies in the S&P 500 rose Tuesday, as did every sector in the index, except for industrials. Technology stocks led the way higher, with the Big Tech companies notching gains. Apple rose 3.1 percent and Microsoft gained 1 percent. Facebook climbed 3.5 percent, while Netf lix added 2.8 percent.