As traders made their way into work through what's left of the heavy snowfall Manhattan had last week, sentiment was buoyed by the latest evidence that a recovery in US manufacturing sector continues to gain traction.
The Institute for Supply Management's manufacturing index climbed to 57 in December from 56.6 but measures of production and orders gained more strongly. "Growth is becoming more balanced, and less reliant on the inventory cycle, as consumption, business investment, and exports improve," said Nigel Gault, chief US economist at IHS Global Insight.
Among the best-perfoming shares were Bank of America, which closed up 6.4pc after agreeing to settle some claims on allegedly faulty mortgages. General Motors, which returned to the stock market in November after its $50bn bail-out, also ended 2011's first day of trading higher after analysts at Goldman Sachs recommended investors buy the shares.
Equity investors know that emerging markets have helped buoy sales and profits for corporate America since the financial crisis, but the last six weeks has seen a dramatic turnaround in sentiment towards the US. That's been triggered in large part by an improvement in the data since the late summer, and the $854bn tax cut package passed by Congress in the final weeks of 2010.
Alongside the Federal Reserve's second $600bn round of quantitative easing, the tax cuts mean the US economy is beginning 2011 with an unprecedented amount of stimulus - something critics say will eventually backfire as the country's deficit grows further.
Equity investors, for now at least, may instead focus on the fact that the S&P has notched annual gains 75pc of the time that the index had closed the year's first trading day higher.
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