The Dow Jones industrial average made history on Wednesday, closing above 20,000 points. This comes after President Donald Trump announced on Tuesday his plans to help stimulate business growth by cutting corporate taxes and regulation.
According to The Los Angeles Times:
At 1 p.m. PST, the famed average of 30 blue-chip stocks stood at 20,068.51, up 0.8% on the day. Earlier, it reached as high as 20,082.00.
The Standard & Poor’s 500 index and the Nasdaq composite, broader gauges of the market, also were trading at or near record highs. The S&P 500 was at 2,298.37, up 0.8%, and the Nasdaq was at 5,655.34, up 0.9%.
It appeared the Dow would eclipse 20,000 points last month – the closing high of 19,974.62 was set Dec. 20 – but the market then moved largely sideways for the next four weeks before resuming its advance.
That extended a months-long rally – and a bull market in stocks stretching back several years – that’s recently been propelled by Trump’s promises of business-friendly policies and Wall Street’s growing expectation of higher corporate earnings in the months to come.
It’s been a rally few saw coming because it looked so implausible a year ago when stock prices fell sharply in response to a financial crisis in China, low oil prices, uncertainty about where interest rates were headed and other factors.
But after rebounding from those concerns, stocks climbed steadily and then gained added momentum after the Nov. 8 election of Trump, who has called for corporate tax cuts, less regulation, more infrastructure building and a tougher U.S. stance on trade.
The Dow finished 2016 with a gain of 13.4%, while the S&P 500 rose 9.5% for the year and the Nasdaq composite gained 7.5%.
The Dow closed at 19,000 only two months ago, on Nov. 22. It has taken nearly 18 years for the average to nearly double from 10,000, which it reached in late March 1999.
Read more via The L.A. Times.