US close: S&P 500, Nasdaq Composite end session at record highs

Wall Street stocks closed at fresh records on the first day of trading for December as last month's historic rally spilt over into the new one.

At the close, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.63% at 29,823.92, while the S&P 500 was 1.13% firmer at 3,662.45 and the Nasdaq Composite ended the session 1.28% stronger at 12,355.11.

The Dow Jones closed 185.25 points higher on Tuesday, cutting into losses recorded a day earlier, while the S&P 500 and Nasdaq both saw out the session at record highs.

In focus on Tuesday, Fed chair Jerome Powell called the US economic outlook "extraordinarily uncertain" in prepared remarks to Congress.

"The rise in new Covid-19 cases, both here and abroad, is concerning and could prove challenging for the next few months," Powell said.

"A full economic recovery is unlikely until people are confident that it is safe to reengage in a broad range of activities."

The Covid-19 pandemic has now claimed the lives of more than 266,000 Americans, according to Johns Hopkins University, leading New York Governor Andrew Cuomo to implement emergency hospital measures amid the continued rise in new cases.

On the macro front, IHS Markit's final manufacturing PMI saw its steepest improvement in operating conditions in more than six years during November, coming in at 56.7 in November, up notably from 53.4 in October and matching the earlier released flash estimate.

Elsewhere, the Institute for Supply Management's manufacturing PMI declined to 57.5 in November, down from 59.3 in the prior month and short of analysts' estimates for a print of 58.

Lastly, construction spending increased 1.3% to $1.44trn in October, a turnaround from a downwardly revised 0.5% fill in September and ahead of estimates of a 0.8% increase, according to the Census Bureau.

In corporate news, Zoom shares were lower despite posting better-than-expected third-quarter earnings, while Tesla was also in the red after S&P Dow Jones Indices said the electric-car maker would be added to the S&P 500 in a single step despite its large size.

Salesforce, Box and Hewlett Packard were all slated to update on recent trading after the bell.