All three indexes posted weekly gains for the fifth straight week in a row.

That helped Friday to boost the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq to record high closes for their seventh straight session, while the Dow also finish at a record. It saw shares in rival drug companies fall, but shares in cruise and travel companies make good gains. Helping on Friday to provide a bullish acceleration to Wall Street was the announcement of the effectiveness of the anti-Covid pill from Pfizer. Several of them, such as the Dow, Nasdaq, S&P 500, the Stoxx Europe 600 and the CAC 40, have set new all-time records. While some central banks have started to reduce their economically-supportive spending measures (such as bond and asset purchases) in small steps, the markets and investors do not seem to be disturbed by these announcements.

That optimism will be tested by readings on US Consumer Price Inflation, РІР‚вЂњ which is forecast to show a sharp rise РІР‚вЂњ and Producer Price Index data РІР‚вЂњ which is also expected to rise РІР‚вЂњ but the markets are more likely to shrug that off than flap about, as they did earlier in the year when cost pressures rose sharply.

The better-than-expected US jobs report for October and the FedРІР‚в„ўs decision to start ending its bond buying but not do anything else seems to have left US and other investors in good spirit. More record finishes on Wall Street on Friday means a solid opening for the ASX today with the futures market showing a 22-point gain ahead of the start of trading.

Pills thrills and bellyaches rar