Santa rally: US equity markets soar to new highs

The leading US equity markets hit fresh record highs on Monday, suggesting a ‘Santa rally' is well underway in the run up to Christmas.

The Dow passed the 16,000 mark for the first time ever, while the S&P 500 recorded a fresh high above 1,800. Year to date, the Dow is up 22% and the S&P is up 26%, showing growing investor confidence following a strong results season and a continuation of QE. Janet Yellen, who is soon expected to take over as the head of the US central bank, mounted a defence of quantitative easing in her first address to Congress last week, giving investors hope loose monetary policy will remain in place to support equity markets for some time to come. In the UK, the FTSE 100 ended the day up 0.45...