* Major U.S. stock indexes hit record closing highs
* Bitcoin touches record
* Oil prices rise to their highest in over a year (Updates with closing U.S. markets levels)
By Caroline Valetkevitch
NEW YORK, Feb 8 (Reuters) - Major U.S. stock indexes registered all-time closing highs on Monday amid optimism over U.S. fiscal stimulus, and bitcoin jumped after Tesla revealed it had purchased $1.5 billion of the cryptocurrency and would soon accept it as a form of payment.
The world's most widely-held cryptocurrency, bitcoin BTC=BTSP touched a record high following the Tesla Inc TSLA.O disclosure, which was seen as significant since Tesla is the fifth most-valuable U.S. company, and its CEO, Elon Musk, is among the world's richest people. shares were up 1.3%, while cryptocurrency miner Riot Blockchain RIOT.O jumped 40.2% and Marathon Patent Group MARA.O climbed 42.4%.
"Musk getting involved in Bitcoin, to those investing in Bitcoin, will be used as a way to tell others that this is a real asset, you can actually do something with it. They will support it as an argument of being the way of the future," said Robert Pavlik, senior portfolio manager at Dakota Wealth Management.
The S&P 500 closed up for a sixth straight session in its longest streak of consecutive higher daily closes since a seven-day run from Aug. 20 to Aug. 28 last year. MSCI's gauge of stocks across the globe also hit another record high.
Feeding the optimism were comments on Sunday by U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, who said that if Congress approves President Joe Biden's $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief plan, the country would get back to full employment next year.
Congress on Friday approved a budget outline that would allow a stimulus bill to muscle through in the coming weeks without Republican support.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI rose 237.52 points, or 0.76%, to 31,385.76, the S&P 500 .SPX gained 28.76 points, or 0.74%, to 3,915.59 and the Nasdaq Composite .IXIC added 131.35 points, or 0.95%, to 13,987.64.
The pan-European STOXX 600 index .STOXX rose 0.30%, while MSCI's gauge of stocks across the globe .MIWD00000PUS gained 0.74%.
Oil prices rose 2% to their highest in over a year, with Brent nudging past $60 a barrel, boosted by supply cuts among key producers and hopes for U.S. economic stimulus. LCOc1 rose $1.22, or 2.1%, to settle at $60.56 a barrel, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate CLc1 rose $1.12, or 2%, to settle at $57.97 a barrel. Both benchmarks were at the highest since January 2020.
Benchmark U.S. Treasury yields held near 11-month highs as U.S. fiscal stimulus was seen boosting economic growth and spurring inflation. 10-year yields US10YT=RR were last at 1.167%, after earlier reaching 1.200%, the highest since March. Thirty-year yields US30YT=RR were last 1.953%, after earlier rising above 2% for the first time since last February.
The dollar was flat to slightly lower. dollar index =USD fell 0.035%, with the euro EUR= up 0.05% to $1.2048.
Spot gold XAU= added 1.1% to $1,831.13 an ounce.
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https://tmsnrt.rs/2zpUAr4 Asia-Pacific valuations
https://tmsnrt.rs/2Dr2BQA World stocks and oil vs COVID
https://tmsnrt.rs/2LAzJdC Global asset performance
http://tmsnrt.rs/2yaDPgn World FX rates in 2021
http://tmsnrt.rs/2egbfVh
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