S&P 500 surges to record closing high

The S&P 500 surged to close at a record high Friday. Upbeat earnings from Disney and Cisco Systems helped lift Wall Street, ending a choppy week that saw hopes rise for a working vaccine just as coronavirus cases kept surging to record levels.

WealthWise Financial Services CEO Loreen Gilbert says investors are looking past the raging caseloads.

“I think people are looking beyond and saying, even with all the uncertainty, there is good news out there with the COVID vaccine, we will have it eventually, and eventually, our economy will open and corporations will go ahead and continue to have earnings that are positive.”

Investors also took comfort from news that President-elect Joe Biden’s pandemic advisory board said there was no plan to enact a nation-wide shutdown.Energy, financials, and industrials drove the Dow and S&P 500 up 1.4% Friday. Tech stocks were laggards, limiting the Nasdaq’s gain to 1%. For the week, the Dow and S&P scored hefty gains but the Nasdaq lost ground.

Disneys shares rose 2%. The Mouse House’s growing streaming video business and a partial recovery at its theme parks gave investors hope that the company had made it through the worst of the pandemic.

Cisco Systems shares leapt 7%. The telecom equipment maker’s quarterly revenue dropped less than expected. More people working from home boosted demand for its teleconferencing tools, networking equipment and cybersecurity products.

Shares of DraftKings jumped nearly 4%. The sports betting platform hiked its sales forecast as major live sports events resumed.