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* Tesla invests $1.5 bln in bitcoin; crypto stocks jump
* Disney, Cisco, GM climb ahead of results this week
* Indexes up: Dow 0.76%, S&P 0.74%, Nasdaq 0.95%
(Updates with closing prices)
By Stephen Culp
NEW YORK, Feb 8 (Reuters) - Wall Street reached all-time
closing highs on Monday as investor optimism was stoked by
prospects of a speedier economic recovery from the global health
crisis, driven by increased stimulus and an accelerated vaccine
rollout.
All three major U.S. stock indexes gained ground, with the
S&P 500 and the Dow posting their sixth consecutive gains, their
longest winning streak since August. Small-caps, set to benefit
most from the economic rebound, outperformed their larger peers.
"Investors are starting to play the economy opening up and
the vaccine starting to work," said Paul Nolte, portfolio
manager at Kingsview Asset Management in Chicago. "And maybe
they can go to a baseball game this summer."
Still, the extended rally provides some cause for concern.
"Stocks have been over-valued for much of the past year,"
Nolte added. "And the things we're seeing now, with GameStop and
Bitcoin, those are signs of speculation, not investing."
Oil prices rose to their highest in over a year due to
supply cuts and hopes for a stimulus-driven demand rebound,
helping energy stocks jump 4.2%. O/R
Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said if Congress approves
the president's $1.9 trillion fiscal aid package, the United
States could return to full employment next year. That package came closer to passage on Friday when lawmakers
approved a budget outline that would enable Democrats to muscle
it through Congress without Republican support. Vaccine deployment, meanwhile, pushes ahead in United
States, with at least 32,780,860 doses administered so far, and
new infections trending lower, on average.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI rose 237.52 points,
or 0.76%, to 31,385.76, the S&P 500 .SPX gained 28.76 points,
or 0.74%, to 3,915.59 and the Nasdaq Composite .IXIC added
131.35 points, or 0.95%, to 13,987.64.
Ten of the 11 major sectors in the S&P 500 ended the session
in positive territory, with energy stocks enjoying the largest
percentage gain. Utilities .SPLRCU were the sole losers.
The fourth-quarter reporting season has passed the halfway
mark, with 294 of the companies in the S&P 500 having reported.
Of those, 83% have beaten consensus estimates, according to
Refinitiv.
Analysts see aggregate fourth-quarter S&P earnings posting a
year-on-year gain of 2.4%, a stark reversal from the 10.3%
annual decline seen at the beginning of the year, per Refinitiv.
Walt Disney Co DIS.N , Cisco Systems Inc CSCO.O and
General Motors Co GM.N were up between 1.8% and 4.9% ahead of
their earnings reports this week.
Bitcoin BTC=BTSP touched a record high after Tesla Inc
TSLA.O announced it had invested around $1.5 billion in the
cryptocurrency and would begin accepting payment in Bitcoin for
its cars and other products. "This is really, I view it, as almost a seminal moment ...
in terms of Bitcoin from a transaction perspective," said Daniel
Ives, managing director at Wedbush Securities in Westfield, New
Jersey. "I think this is really an eyebrow-raising move."
Tesla shares gained 1.3%, while cryptocurrency miners Riot
Blockchain RIOT.O and Marathon Patent Group MARA.O surged
40.2% and 42.4%, respectively.
Advancing issues outnumbered declining ones on the NYSE by a
3.20-to-1 ratio; on Nasdaq, a 3.56-to-1 ratio favored advancers.
The S&P 500 posted 42 new 52-week highs and no new lows; the
Nasdaq Composite recorded 461 new highs and 6 new lows.
Volume on U.S. exchanges was 15.32 billion shares, compared
with the 15.51 billion average over the last 20 trading days.