Fresh records for US equity markets amid ongoing optimism of further stimulus measures - Dow gained +212-points or +0.69% to 31,041.13, paring an earlier gain of over >300-points but settling above >31,000 for the first time. Boeing Co fell -0.7% in the extended session after agreeing to pay more than >US$2.5B in penalties, including nearly US$1.8B in compensation for airlines, to resolve charges of misleading U.S. aviation authorities in connection with the company’s 737 Max aircraft, the Justice Department said late Thursday. Coca Cola Company (down -1.1%) retreated for a fourth consecutive session after J.P. Morgan became the latest bank to downgrade the beverage giant (to Neutral from Overweight), citing an increased risk that the company loses its current tax dispute with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). American Express Company lost -0.79% after the Wall Street Journal reported that the investigative arms of three U.S. financial agencies were probing the card issuer’s sales practices. The broader S&P500 rose +1.48% to 3,803.79, settling above >3,800 for the first time. Information Technology (up +2.65%) led nine of the eleven primary sectors higher. Financials rose +1.47%, while the Industrial (+0.55%) and Materials (0.79%) sectors hit new records. DXC Technology surged + 9.3% and was the biggest gainer in the S&P500 on reports the IT-services giant has received takeover interest. Tesla Inc (up +7.94% to US$816.04) logged its tenth consecutive session gain and climbed above US$800 per share for the first time. The latest gain saw Elon Musk become the world’s richest person, overtaking Amazon.com Inc’s (u+0.76%) Jeff Bezos as his net worth crossed US$185B. Tesla’s market capitalisation (~US$774B) also exceeded Facebook Inc’s (~US$765B after the company’s shares rose +2.06%). T-Mobile Inc rose +1.26% and hit a record high (US$135.45) after announcing after the close of the previous session that it added a better-than-expected +1.6M postpaid subscribers in the fourth quarter of 2020 (versus consensus analyst expectations for the addition of +1.5M) despite a competitive few months as wireless companies flooded the market with iPhone 12 promotions. The Nasdaq jumped +2.56% to 13,067.48, climbing above >13,000 for the first time. Chipmakers traded strongly, with Advanced Micro Devices (up +5.35%), NVIDIA Corp (+5.78%) and Lam Research Corp (+3.62%) all gaining over >3%. The Russell 2000 index recorded a fresh record high, rising +1.88% to 2,096.64. It marked the third consecutive rise of 1% or more for the small capitalisation index, the longest such streak since June 2020 , according to Dow Jones Market Data.