Investing.com - The leading indexes on Wall Street climbed once again on Tuesday as part of an ongoing, post-election rally. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose by 0.12% to 1921.60. The NASDAQ Composite increased to 0.21% to 5379.92. The S&P 500 finished the day at 2204.66, a blip upward of 0.13%
Health care stocks helped power the day's gains. President-elect Trump this morning named Rep. Tom Price (R-Ga.) as the Secretary of Health and Human Services, and the former physician is a long-time advocate of health savings accounts, which private insurers could issue under a new health care policy touted by the incoming administration.
U.S. equities had closed lower on Monday, as a post-election rally sputtered out, with all major indexes dropping off from all-time high levels. The small-caps Russell 2000 been outperforming large-cap indexes, but fell more than 1%, halting a 15-day streak of gains, its longest in 20 years.
Rep. Price also comes to HHS with a clear strategy as he is the author of the Empowering Patients First Act, a detailed legislative and regulatory plan to repeal and replace the failed health care finance program, colloquially called "Obamacare."
News of the transition to the next presidential election continued to impact the markets throughout the day. Late on Tuesday, President-elect Trump is scheduled to meet with former Gov. Mitt Romney, the GOP presidential candidate in 2012, for a second interview for the Secretary of State position. Former Secretary of Labor Elaine Chao was named as Transportation Secretary by the incoming president. She is the wife of the Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, and is expected to shepherd the $500 million infrastructure spending plan of the president-elect.
"President-elect Trump wants to take in all the options, but I am absolutely confident he will make the right choice," said Vice President-elect Mike Pence, in an interview to be broadcast this evening on the Sean Hannity Show on the Fox News Channel.