Stocks rally to a record as Biden sworn in as president, Netflix soars; European markets close higher ahead of Joe Biden’s inauguration 
The stock market rallied to a record close as President Joe Biden was sworn into office, sparking hopes for another stimulus package and smoother vaccine rollout ahead. A slew of strong quarterly results also boosted sentiment, including from Netflix which soared 16.9%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average jumped 257.86 points, or 0.8%, to a new closing high of 31,188.38. The S&P 500 advanced 1.4% to a record close of 3,851.85, led by the communication services sector. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite jumped nearly 2% to 13,457.25, notching a fresh record. All three averages also touched their intraday highs during the session. 
Netflix soared after the company reported strong subscriber growth and said it’s considering share buybacks. Netflix handily beat estimates for global paid net subscriber additions, reporting 8.5 million versus the 6.47 million analysts anticipated. The company also said it expects to break even on a cash flow basis this year. 
Procter & Gamble raised its fiscal 2021 forecast and said revenue last quarter jumped on higher pandemic demand for cleaning products. The stock dipped 1.3%, however. 

The pan-European Stoxx 600 ended up by 0.7%, with autos adding 2.7% to lead gains as all sectors and most major bourses were in positive territory. 
Education group Pearson and fashion house Burberry gained 8.1% and 3.5% respectively, as investors reacted positively to reassuring trading updates. 
Technical products and services company Diploma gained 6.3% after reporting a surge in revenue and Johnson Matthey added 6.5% after announcing new manufacturing capacity for components used in green hydrogen production. 
Source: CNBC