Sparked by last week’s presidential election, the stock market continued its upward trajectory on Monday.
The Dow closed above 44,000 for the first time, up .69% from Friday. The S&P 500 ended the day just above 6,000, up .10%, while the Nasdaq Composite closed at 19298, up .06%.
Bank of America, Citigroup, and Goldman Sachs helped lead the upward trend in the banking sector in the Dow. Losses in the tech sector, not including Tesla, caused a drag on the S&P 500. Apple fell nearly 2% and Microsoft and Amazon fell about 1% each. Tesla was a standout, rising 7%.
Analysts at Yahoo! Finance attributed the mostly positive upswing to expectations for lower corporate taxes and deregulation when President-elect Trump takes office. Also, the Federal Reserve’s second consecutive interest rate cut last week further fueled the positive mood in the market.
Crypto-related stocks were also up, with Bitcoin reaching a record-high just shy of $87,000. Coinbase was up more than 19%. Robinhood, which facilitates crypto trading, rose more than 7%, and more than 35% over the past week.
Although President-elect Trump has not clearly stated what his crypto policy will be, he is widely viewed as being friendly to the crypto industry. In the past, he has promised to appoint a crypto advisory council, fire SEC Chairman Gary Gensler, and create a ‘strategic national bitcoin stockpile,” as Yahoo!Finance reported.
Gensler and the SEC have battled several crypto companies — including Ripple– in court in the last several years. Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse was quick to congratulate Trump on social media for his win in the presidential election, offering him a “first 100-day checklist” of priorities, which included firing Gensler on Day 1.
“We’re completely thrilled that we got a new president who campaigned on crypto and keeping the US a leader in the technology,” said Coinbase Chief Policy Officer Faryar Shirzad, per Yahoo!