By Saeed Azhar, Johann M Cherian and Purvi Agarwal

(Reuters) -Wall Street’s main indexes climbed on Monday, with the small-cap Russell 2000 index hitting an all-time high after Scott Bessent’s nomination as U.S. Treasury secretary helped push bond yields lower.

Focus also turned to talks of a ceasefire deal between Israel and Lebanon, which pushed oil prices lower, dragging the Energy index 1.7% lower.

President-elect Donald Trump ended weeks of speculation when he named his choice late on Friday, with some investment strategists saying Bessent could take measures to restrain further government borrowing, even as he follows through on fiscal and trade campaign pledges.

The nomination of Bessent has eased fiscal concerns, said

James Reilly, senior market economist at market desk Capital Economics.

At 1:55 p.m. EST the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 399.52 points, or 0.90%, to 44,696.03, the S&P 500 had gained 14.14 points, or 0.24%, to 5,983.48 and the Nasdaq Composite gained 26.83 points, or 0.14%, to 19,030.73. The small-cap index hit an all-time high of 2,455 points, up a little over 2%, eclipsing the high it touched three years ago, as Treasury yields dropped sharply, with the 30-year bond leading the yield declines across the board.

“Areas that were lagging for most of this year are beginning to outperform, such as the small-cap and the mid-cap stocks, not just due to Trump, but also due to the Federal Reserve cutting rates,” said Adam Sarhan, chief executive of 50 Park Investments in New York.

Expectations that Trump, along with a Republican Congress, can make good on his promise of business-friendly policies have been the latest tailwinds for small-cap companies. They have been in the spotlight since the U.S. Federal Reserve commenced its monetary policy easing cycle in September.

Lower yields helped the rate-sensitive Real Estate sector rise 1.3%, while the Housing index advanced 5%.

The Dow and the S&P 500 touched intraday record-high levels.

Barclays raised its full-year 2025 forecast for the S&P 500, while Deutsche Bank set its target at 7,000 points by the end of 2025.

Concerns remain, however, that inflationary pressures could spike and slow the pace of the Fed’s policy easing.

Investors have recently swung between expectations of a pause versus a further cut in interest rates at the Fed’s December meeting. The CME Group’s FedWatch Tool shows a 56.2% probability the central bank will deliver another 25 basis-point cut.

Consumer Discretionary stocks led sectoral gains, aided by Amazon.com’s rise of nearly 1.9%.

The Personal Consumption Expenditure report, the central bank’s preferred inflation gauge, will be on investors’ radar later this Thanksgiving week.

Macy’s fell 3.3% after the department-store operator delayed the publication of its third-quarter results due to an accounting issue.

Bath & Body Works raised its forecast for full-year adjusted profit, sending the retailer’s shares up 17%.

Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 3.34-to-1 ratio on the NYSE. There were 735 new highs and 35 new lows on the NYSE. The S&P 500 posted 104 new 52-week highs and no new lows while the Nasdaq Composite recorded 337 new highs and 53 new lows

(Reporting by Saeed Azhar in New York and Johann M Cherian and Purvi Agarwal in Bengaluru; Editing by Maju Samuel and Matthew Lewis)

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