Dow Crosses 20K Milestone for First Time
January 25 2017 - 11:48AM
Dow Jones News
By Aaron Kuriloff and Corrie Driebusch
The Dow Jones Industrial Average hit 20000 for the first time,
the latest milestone in the U.S. stock market's postelection
rally.
If the blue-chip index of 30 stocks closes above the mark
Wednesday, it will be the second-fastest thousand-point gain after
it took 24 trading days to climb from 10000 to 11000 during the
dot-com boom in 1999.
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The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 157 points, or 0.8%, to
20069 Wednesday. The S&P 500 added 0.7% and the Nasdaq
Composite climbed 0.8%.
The Dow industrials have soared since Election Day, buoyed by
investors' bets that the administration of President Donald Trump
will pursue policies such as tax cuts, regulatory rollbacks and
infrastructure spending that could improve the outlook for U.S.
companies. The index has risen more than 9% since Nov. 8, notching
several highs, and closed above 19000 for the first time ever Nov.
22. The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq Composite both closed at records
Tuesday.
The gains also came as earnings from companies including banks
highlighted improving corporate profits and ongoing U.S. economic
growth. Shares of Boeing rose 4.3% Wednesday after the aerospace
company beat expectations for earnings in the final quarter of the
year.
Caterpillar, which makes construction and mining equipment, rose
1.5%, while J.P. Morgan Chase added 1.1% and Goldman Sachs gained
1.2% to push its postelection climb to roughly 29%. The KBW Nasdaq
Bank Index of large U.S commercial lenders has gained about 23%
since Election Day.
Investors' surge into mining and manufacturing companies pushed
stocks higher Tuesday, as some bet that Mr. Trump's moves to revive
oil-pipeline projects and cut regulations signaled the first steps
toward clearing the way for a surge in infrastructure spending.
The sun had yet to rise over Los Angeles-based Wedbush
Securities on Wednesday morning when the Dow industrials crossed
the milestone for the first time.
"We were too busy to cheer," said Ian Winer, head of equities
trading. As the Dow reached 20000, Mr. Winer said he started
receiving lots of buy orders. "This kind of move draws people into
the market," he said. "It feels like guys are saying, 'I've got to
be there. I can't miss any more of this rally.'"
Haven assets were under pressure Wednesday, with selling in
government bonds sending the yield on the benchmark 10-year
Treasury note up to 2.5%, according to Tradeweb, from 2.471% after
its biggest daily rise of 2017.
Bonds rallied and stocks fell Monday on concerns that Mr.
Trump's protectionist approach on trade could hurt growth, before
the president refocused attention on the possibility of increased
fiscal spending Tuesday. That helped send bonds to their biggest
one-day selloff in more than a month.
Gold fell 1.2% to $1,196.70 an ounce Wednesday.
The WSJ Dollar Index, which measures the U.S. currency against
16 others, fell 0.1%.
"On the one hand, it's great we're hitting all-time highs," said
Brett Mock, managing director at brokerage JonesTrading
Institutional Services LLC, referring to how major U.S. stock
indexes are trading around records. "But skeptics will say if we're
in record territory, how much further can we go? Are we seeing a
top forming? Obviously no one knows the answer to that."
--Riva Gold contributed to this article.
Write to Aaron Kuriloff at aaron.kuriloff@wsj.com and Corrie
Driebusch at corrie.driebusch@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
January 25, 2017 11:33 ET (16:33 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2017 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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