Financials sector driving up the S&P 500

U.S. stocks were soaring across the board on Wednesday morning, helped by the nearly 5% advance in the financials sector as investors hoped that a second Trump presidency could support large investment banks and financial-services companies.

The S&P 500’s financials sector was the best performer among the large-cap benchmark index’s 11 sectors on Wednesday morning. The Financial Select Sector SPDR ETF was rising 4.7%, on pace for its new all-time high and its largest daily percentage increase in two years, according to Dow Jones Market Data.

“Although some investors think that Trump could be bad for financials, as he will use the presidency to press for rate cuts, the flip side is that the regulatory environment will likely improve and give these organizations freedom from a number of audits and fines as well as enable them to expand businesses,” said JJ Kinahan, chief executive officer at IG North America and president of Tastytrade.