Wall Street ends at record highs as index trades within hair of 20,000

US equities touched record highs on Tuesday and the dollar rose to its highest level in 14 years as markets shrugged off risk aversion and continued the rally that has elevated Wall Street since Election Day.

The Dow Jones industrial average and Nasdaq Composite both closed at record highs, with the blue-chip index just below the 20,000 level. European stocks steadied as reassurance over Italy’s plan to spend up to 20 billion euros (US$21 billion) to rescue its troubled banks overtook uncertainty over Monday’s attacks in Turkey and Germany.

The Dow rose 91.56 points, or 0.46 per cent, to finish at 19,974.62, the S&P 500 gained 8.23 points, or 0.36 per cent, to 2,270.76 and the Nasdaq added 26.50 points, or 0.49 per cent, to 5,483.94.

The pan-European STOXX 600 closed up 0.48 per cent, with the German DAX, French CAC 40 and British FTSE 100 all adding gains.

“Investors have become so fast in digesting bad news, and this explains the resilience in financial markets,” said Hussein Sayed, chief market strategist at FXTM.