US equity markets rallied as investors bought financial and industrial stocks on expectations that a Democratic sweep in the Senate run-off elections in Georgia would lead to more fiscal stimulus and infrastructure spending - Dow rallied +438-points or +1.44%, rallying as much as +600-points and hitting a fresh record intra-day high (31,022.65). Caterpillar Inc surged +5.5% to be among the leading index performers along with Goldman Sachs Inc (+5.40%) and JPMorgan Chase & Co (+4.70%). The broader S&P500 rose +0.57% and also touched an intra-day record peak (3,783.04). The Financials sector jumped +4.36% and led seven of the eleven primary sectors higher as US 10 Treasury yields topped >1% for the first time since March last year. Ford Motor Company rose +2.20% despite sales dropping -2.8% in the fourth quarter as sales of the star F-150 was hit by pandemic-related stoppages leading up to the release of the pickup truck’s newest version. Total vehicle sales in the U.S. fell nearly 10% to 542,749 units, with sales of trucks down more than >12% and SUV sales up 4%. The technology-centric Nasdaq lost -0.61% amid concerns over higher tax rates for the information technology sector. Facebook Inc (down -2.83%) and Amazon.com Inc (-2.49%) both fell over >2%. The small capitalisation Russell 2000 index jumped +3.98% to a record closing high of 2,057.92. In merger and acquisition (M&A) news, AmerisourceBergen Corp gained +8.60% after the U.S. drug wholesaler said it would buy Dow component Walgreens Boots Alliance’s (up +4.54%) drug distribution business for US$6.5B to expand in Europe.
