New York, Jan 5: The Dow Jones industrial average closed above the 25,000-point for the first time on Thursday. The 30-stock index climbed 152.45 points to 25,075.13 with General Electric, DowDuPont, and IBM rising about 2 per cent. The Dow closing above 25,000 point mark has come nearly 35 days after hitting 24,000 points following the release of strong employment data.
In fact, all the three major indexes set new closing records on Thursday. The Nasdaq Composite Index gained 12.38 points, S&P 500 added 10.93 points and the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 152.45 points. “The news has been good. Confidence is up. Everything is lining up just right,” said Tim Courtney, chief investment officer at Exencial Wealth Advisors.
Steve Claussen, vice president of trader strategy at E-Trade, told CNBC, “The Dow hitting 25,000 was a pretty wild idea even a year ago. And while its symbolically important, the real story is never just a number. It’s the underlying strength that is pushing markets this high.”
With this, the analysts have predicted strong global economic growth and good prospects for higher company earnings. “For a long while in 2017 I would say the biggest driver was excitement and anticipation over tax reform, but at a certain point I think there was a handover to global economic growth really helping to carry the stock market,” Invesco Chief Global Markets Strategist Kristina Hooper was quoted as saying by LA Times.
“This was a solid number and with a near record amount of job openings, maybe more people are coming off the sidelines, enticed by higher wages which are coming,” said Peter Boockvar, chief investment officer at Bleakley Financial Group.