US equity markets made a strong start to December, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average logging an intra-day record high and both the S&P500 and Nasdaq notching fresh record closing highs - Dow settled +185-points or +0.60% higher, having climbed over >400-points earlier in the session to a intra-day record high of . Apple Inc (up 3.1%) was the leading Dow performer. The broader S&P500 gained +1.1% to 3,662.45, with Communication Services (up +1.96%), Financials (+1.57%) and Information Technology (+1.41%) leading nine of the eleven primary sectors higher. Industrials (down -0.17%) was the only primary sector to close in the red. The technology-centric Nasdaq +1.3% to 12,355.11. Tesla Inc gained +3% after S&P Dow Jones Indices confirmed after the close of the previous session that the electric vehicle maker would be added to the S&P500 index in a single step on 21 December. Amazon.com Inc’s (up +1.64%) AWS announced a development agreement with BlackBerry (+19.25%).