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The surprise announcement that Boeing ousted its embattled CEO invigorated Wall Street, while trading was muted on European and Asian stock markets as many investors were already away for Christmas.
Shares of Boeing climbed around 3% after the aviation giant announced it was ousting Dennis Muilenburg as chief executive, replacing him with David Calhoun as the grounding of the 737 MAX drags on after two deadly crashes.
Gains by Boeing helped the Dow to score its third straight record, lifting the blue-chip index by 0.3%. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq also ended at records.
Meanwhile, more positive news on the US-China trade front also boosted sentiment, as Beijing said it will lower import tariffs on more than 850 products including frozen pork from next month.
And while the move does not appear to be linked to the bruising trade war between China and the US, which has seen Washington and Beijing exchanging levies on goods worth hundreds of billions of dollars, it will likely help reduce tensions.
The news "has lifted the mood on Wall Street," said analyst David Madden at CMC Markets UK.
In Europe trading was muted, which many investors taking a break for the holidays.
Global equities have enjoyed a flourish as they head towards the end of the year, having been on a roller-coaster ride for 12 months owing to the long-running US-China trade row and Brexit.
"It's been a strong run up to Christmas for the stock markets and it seems traders are taking a little breather in this shortened trading week," said analyst Craig Erlam at trading firm Oanda.
"It's been a good few weeks for investors, spurred primarily by the de-escalation in the trade war, with Trump ... claiming it will be signed very shortly."
Observers say that with those two major issues looking less uncertain, 2020 could see a healthy run-up in prices, boosted by looser central bank monetary policy and signs of improvement in economies around the world.
With very little by way of market-moving events on the horizon, analysts are expecting a quiet week.
