Stocks rise to record highs as COVID-19 cases surge

Markets were mostly higher on Thursday.

The S&P 500 rose 0.3 percent to a record high and the STOXX Europe 600 rose 0.1 percent to also hit a record high. However, the Nikkei 225 fell 0.2 percent.

Investors celebrated record highs for stock markets even as COVID-19 cases continued to surge around the world, not least in the US.

The White House COVID-19 response team on Thursday reported that the seven-day numbers for new COVID-19 cases reached about 113,000 new cases per day in a 24 percent increase from the previous week. Hospital admissions rose 31 percent and fatalities rose 22 percent.

Rochelle Walensky, the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said that “now over 90 percent of counties in the United States are experiencing substantial or high transmission”.