US stocks hit records as global rally accelerates

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NEW YORK: Global stocks rallied again Tuesday, with US markets hitting new records, as worries about the British exit from the EU fade amid confidence in more central bank easing.

The headlines were most dramatic in the US, where both the Dow and S&P 500 hit fresh records and the tech-rich Nasdaq closed above 5,000 for the first time all year.

Bourses in Paris, Frankfurt, Tokyo, Hong Kong and Shanghai all gained between one and 2.5 percent.

An exception was London, which finished marginally negative after the British pound strengthened at the unexpectedly quick selection of Theresa May as the new conservative leader.

Analysts said investors are scared to miss out on a big rally.

“It appears that the momentum trade is back again,” said Briefing.com analyst Patrick O’Hare in a client note, describing “a market that seemingly has no inclination to dwell on the negatives”.

Analysts have attributed the gains in the US to greater faith in the economic outlook of the world’s biggest economy after Friday’s strong June jobs report, combined with confidence the Federal Reserve will not hike interest rates anytime soon.

“It’s clearly a liquidity-driven market, driven by a significant excess of US liquidity or domestic liquidity,” said Hugh Johnson, an investment advisor in Albany, New York.