Dow Jones industrial average breaks through 20,000 milestone

Strong earnings from Boeing and other big companies helped push the Dow past the threshold early on and had US stocks solidly higher in late-afternoon trading. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index and Nasdaq composite were on course for record highs of their own after each closed at all-time highs on Tuesday. Financial and industrial stocks were leading the gainers, while real estate, phone companies and other high-dividend stocks were among the biggest laggards as bond yields rose.

The Dow, which tracks 30 major industrial companies, gained 150 points, or 0.8 per cent, to 20,062 as of 3:30pm. Eastern Time. The S&P 500 index rose 17 points, or 0.8 per cent, to 2,297. The Nasdaq added 50 points, or 0.9 per cent, to 5,651.

The market has been marching steadily higher since bottoming out in March 2009 in the aftermath of the financial crisis. The rally continued after the election of Donald Trump as US president last fall. The Dow first closed above 10,000 on March 29, 1999.

Wednesday’s rally comes against a backdrop of optimism on Wall Street that executive actions and policy goals announced by the Trump administration this week on trade, manufacturing and business deregulation will be good for corporate America.

“Whether it’s tax reform or infrastructure spending, any of those tend to be optimistic conversations for the markets currently,” said Darrell Cronk, president of Wells Fargo Investment Institute. “We have to wait and see how they play out, obviously. The danger here, if there is one, is that the market gets ahead of itself a little bit.”

Most professional investors are sceptical the Dow at 20,000 will have much effect on the market. They more often look to the S&P 500 index as a benchmark, because they consider it better representation of the broad market.

“In and of itself, it is just a number,” said Quincy Krosby, market strategist at Prudential Financial. “But what it does is it lifts market expectations, in essence, to continue moving higher.”

If the Dow reaching 20,000 has any impact, it will likely be a psychological one. Investors have been leery of the stock market for years, unable to stomach the prospect of losing more than 50 per cent of their money for a second time if another financial crisis hits.

That trepidation has caused them to pull money out of stock funds — even as the Dow made its march toward 20,000 — and depend instead on safer bond investments. Last year, investors pulled a net $US27.1 billion ($35.8 billion) out of US stock mutual funds and exchange-traded funds, according to Morningstar. A year earlier, they yanked $US66.5 billion ($87.8 billion). Over the same time, investors plugged a total of $US218.6 billion ($288.7 billion) into taxable bond funds.

Anyone who resisted the urge to dump their stock investments through all the tumult of the last decade is now seeing the full benefit of a market with the Dow at 20,000.

A $US10,000 ($13,200) investment in the largest US stock mutual fund made a decade ago, before the Great Recession began, would have dropped below $US5,000 ($6600) by March 2009. But investors who held on even through the worries of another recession hitting, US debt downgrade, the euro crisis and uncertainties over Britain’s departure from the European Union would now be sitting on nearly $US20,000 ($26,400). This is expected to be the busiest week for corporate earnings news, with about 30 per cent of the companies in the S&P 500 reporting quarterly results. Several companies were moving higher after reporting results that exceeded Wall Street’s expectations.

Boeing was the biggest gainer in the Dow. The aircraft manufacturer climbed $US7 or 4.4 per cent, to $US167.55.

Seagate’s latest quarterly snapshot drove its shares 14.8 per cent higher, to lead all other companies in the S&P 500. The stock added $US5.56 to $US43. Investors also bid up shares in Rockwell Automation, which rose $US10.55, or 7.4 per cent, to $US152.58, and Logitech, which vaulted 15.5 per cent. The computer gaming and accessories maker’s shares added $US3.90 to $US29.

Some companies posted earnings that failed to impress investors. Textron slumped 6.9 per cent after the defence contractor’s fourth-quarter revenue missed financial analysts’ estimates. The company also announced it is buying snowmobile maker Arctic Cat in a deal valued at about $US247 million ($326 million). Textron was the biggest decliner in the S&P 500, sliding $US3.41 to $US45.98. Mining company Freeport-McMoRan fell 3.2 per cent after it served up quarterly results that missed analysts’ forecasts. The stock slid 54 cents to $US16.48. Major stock indexes in Europe moved higher.

Germany’s DAX rose 1.8 per cent, while the CAC-40 in France gained 1 per cent. The FTSE 100 index of leading British shares rose 0.2 per cent.

Earlier in Asia, Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 surged 1.4 per cent after Japan’s government said that the nation had a trade surplus in 2016, its first in six years. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng rose 0.4 per cent. South Korea’s Kospi rose 0.1 per cent. Energy prices mostly declined. Benchmark U.S. crude fell 43 cents to $US52.75 a barrel in New York. Brent crude, used to price international oils, slid 36 cents at $US55.08 a barrel in London.

Bond prices fell. The 10-year Treasury yield rose to 2.53 per cent from 2.47 per cent late Tuesday.

In currency trading, the US dollar fell to 113.60 yen from 113.89 on Tuesday. The euro rose to $US1.0743 from $US1.0723.

Among metals, the price of gold slid $US13, or 1.1 per cent, to $US1197.80 an ounce. Silver fell 21 cents to $US16.98 an ounce. Copper was little changed at $US2.71 a pound.

In other energy trading, wholesale gasoline fell 5 cents to $US1.52 a gallon, while heating oil slid 3 cents to $US1.61 a gallon. Natural gas futures rose 5 cents, or 1.6 per cent, to $US3.33 per 1,000 cubic feet.

The Australian dollar is higher against the greenback which has weakened on fears that protectionism will hurt global trade and growth. At 0635 AEDT on Thursday, the Australian dollar was worth 75.55 US cents, up from 75.37 on Wednesday.

The Australian stock market is closed on Thursday for the Australia Day public holiday. Trading resumes on Friday.

Originally published as US stocks hit new record highs