(Reuters) - U. S. stocks hit record intraday highs on Wednesday, with the Dow breaching the 21,000 mark for the first time ever, as bank stocks surged<br />on higher chances of an interest rate hike this month, while a more measured tone in President Donald Trump’s speech reassured investors.<br />However, the markets were more focused on comments on Tuesday from a handful of Federal Reserve officials, including the influential<br />New York Fed President William Dudley, who said the case for tightening monetary policy had become "a lot more compelling".<br />In his first address to a joint session of Congress late Tuesday, Trump said he wanted to boost the U. S.<br />economy with a "massive" tax relief, make a $1 trillion effort on infrastructure and overhaul Obamacare.<br />First Standard Financial wrote that The markets are trading higher on the softer approach by the President,<br />ET (1434 GMT) the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 198.2 points, or 0.95 percent, at 21,010.44, the S&P 500 was up 19.1 points, or 0.80 percent, at 2,382.74<br />and the Nasdaq Composite was up 47.22 points, or 0.81 percent, at 5,872.66<br />Wall Street Hits New Highs as Banks Soar on Rate Hike Hopes -<br />By REUTERSMARCH 1, 2017, 10:00 A. M. E. S.T.<br />The probability of a March rate hike jumped to 67.5 percent from roughly 30 percent<br />after the comments from Fed officials, according to Thomson Reuters data.
