Three major stock market indexes hit all-time highs Monday as investors breathed a sigh of relief over President-elect Donald Trump's selection of a hedge-fund founder to serve as his treasury secretary.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 440.06 points, or 0.99%, for the day to close at a record 44,736.57. The S&P 500 and the Russell 2000 also all reached intra-day highs, with more than three of four S&P 500 stocks trading higher during the session, according to CNBC.
Government bond yields and the U.S. dollar index both fell, leading Quincy Krosby, chief global strategist at LPL Financial, to call the movements a "textbook" positive reaction to Trump's pick of Scott Bessent to head the Treasury Department.
"You can't ask for a better reception from the market," Krosby told CNBC. "This is the market applauding."
In an interview published Sunday, Bessent, founder of Key Square Capital Management, told the Wall Street Journal that he planned to follow through on Trump's pledges to cut taxes and reduce federal spending.
Before his selection, Bessent also told CNBC that he'd "recommend that tariffs be layered in gradually." Trump has proposed a 60% tariff on goods from China and 20% from everywhere else.
"If you take that price adjustment coupled with all the other disinflationary things President Trump is talking about, we're going to be at or below the 2% inflation target again," Bessent told CNBC earlier this month.
Carol Schleif, chief investment officer of BMO Family Office, said Monday that investors had been worried that other candidates for the job would take a hard line on tariffs and spending, with less concern for their potential impact on the stock market, Reuters reported.
"Bessent understands a lot of different asset classes and is going to help Trump stay very sensitive to market reactions," she said. "Markets are pretty self-centered. They want to make sure people are paying attention to them or they throw a tantrum."
