NEW YORK -- The Dow Jones industrial average and Standard & Poor's 500 indexes soared Wednesday to their biggest gains since the presidential election and set all-time highs. The Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA, +0.14% marked its third consecutive record close, surging 297.84, or 1.6%, to finish at 19,549.62, following a fresh intraday record. Gains in Nike Inc. NKE, -0.02%, Home Depot Inc. HD, +0.75% and Visa Inc. V, -2.26% outweighed a slump in health-care shares of Johnson & Johnson Inc. JNJ, -0.98%, Pfizer Inc. PFE, +0.90% and Merck & Co. MRK, -3.58%

The S&P 500 index SPX, -0.01%, which also reached an intraday trading high, closed at a record of 2,241.35, a gain of 29.12 points, or 1.3%, with all sectors except the health care—which finished down 0.8%—closing for a gain. The Nasdaq Composite Index COMP, -0.19% which had been trading in negative territory earlier, turned higher, and finished up 60.76 points, or 1.1%, at 5,393.76, a few points shy of its record close set in late November. Biotech drug companies took steep losses after President-elect Donald Trump said he wants to reduce drug prices. Bonds have struggled badly due to higher growth and government spending forecasts under Trump.
U.S. stocks closed higher Wednesday with the Dow industrials and S&P 500 notching new records.