US STOCKS-Dow tops 30,000 on vaccine progress, Biden transition

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* S&P 500 on track for biggest monthly percentage gain since
April
* Tesla market value crosses $500 billion
* Economically-sensitive industrials, banks, energy stocks
jump
* Dow up 1.34%, S&P 500 up 1.44%, Nasdaq up 1.18%

(Updates to mid-afternoon, changes byline)
By Chuck Mikolajczak
NEW YORK, Nov 24 (Reuters) - U.S. stocks rallied on Tuesday,
with the Dow piercing the 30,000 level for the first time, as
investors anticipated a 2021 economic recovery on progress on
coronavirus vaccines and the formal clearance for
President-elect Joe Biden's transition to the White House.
Each of the 11 major S&P sectors was higher, led by
economically sensitive stocks such as industrials .SPLRCI ,
which climbed to a record, along with the financials .SPSY , up
2.8% and energy .SPNY , up 4.2%.
President Donald Trump finally gave the green light for the
formal transfer of power to begin on Monday, a process that was
delayed for weeks despite Democrat Joe Biden emerging as the
clear winner in the elections. The General Services
Administration told Biden he could formally begin the hand-over
process. "You had the GSA transitioning and Trump saying he is going
to cooperate. That is a positive," said Thomas Martin, senior
portfolio manager at Globalt Investments in Atlanta.
"Nobody was worried about it, but just the fact you're
greasing the wheels for the transition instead of trying to
throw a monkey wrench in them is decent news."
The Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI rose 395.22 points,
or 1.34%, to 29,986.49; the S&P 500 .SPX gained 51.48 points,
or 1.44%, at 3,629.07 and the Nasdaq Composite .IXIC added
140.41 points, or 1.18%, at 12,021.05.
Recent data suggesting a COVID-19 vaccine could be available
before the end of the year has put the S&P 500 .SPX on course
for its best November ever and sparked demand for value-linked
stocks that were hammered following the coronavirus-driven crash
earlier this year.
U.S. officials said on Tuesday they plan to release 6.4
million COVID-19 vaccine doses nationwide in an initial
distribution after the first one is cleared by regulators for
emergency use. Sentiment this week was also boosted by reports that Biden
planned to nominate former Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen as
Treasury Secretary, which could shift the focus heavily toward
efforts to tackle growing economic inequality. Electric-car maker Tesla Inc TSLA.O jumped 6.7%, boosting
its market value to over $500 billion, as investors lapped up
its shares in the run-up to its addition to the S&P 500 index.
Boeing Co BA.N gained 2.8% after European regulators gave
draft approval to its 737 MAX jets, paving the way for a formal
flight clearance in January. BlackRock Inc, the world's largest asset manager, on Monday
upgraded U.S. equities to "overweight," turning bullish on
quality large-cap technology companies and small cap firms that
tend to perform well during a cyclical upswing. Still, with coronavirus cases surging by the day and
millions of Americans still unemployed, some analysts suggested
the U.S. stock market could be prone to a pullback from record
levels in the next few weeks.
Advancing issues outnumbered decliners on the NYSE by a
3.29-to-1 ratio; on Nasdaq, a 1.95-to-1 ratio favored advancers.
The S&P 500 posted 54 new 52-week highs and no new lows; the
Nasdaq Composite recorded 192 new highs and nine new lows.