On Thursday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average achieved a historic milestone as it crossed the 40,000 mark for the very first time.
This marks a significant and symbolic milestone for the index that monitors the performance of the top 30 publicly traded companies in the United States.
The Dow has gained approximately 6% in the year to date.
At the conclusion of Thursday’s trading session, the Dow experienced a dip below the 40,000 mark. The index concluded at 39,869.38, signaling a marginal decrease for the day.
The Dow, S&P 500, and Nasdaq have experienced a recent rally, driven by data indicating a decrease in inflation. This positive development paves the way for the Federal Reserve to initiate the long-awaited interest rate cuts.
Inflation data released on Wednesday indicated a slight deceleration in the rate of price increases compared to the previous month. This marks the end of a continuous surge in inflation that has been observed since the start of 2024.
The Fed had almost completely discarded its earlier prediction of three quarter-point rate cuts for this year. However, the decrease in the pace of price increases has provided a glimmer of hope for reviving those plans.
Ed Yardeni, the President of market advisory firm Yardeni Research and former Chief Investment Strategist at Deutsche Bank’s U.S. equities division, believes that the current combination of the Federal Reserve potentially lowering interest rates due to moderating inflation, along with a strong and resilient economy, sets the stage for a bullish market. According to Yardeni, this scenario is quite favorable and presents an excellent opportunity for investors.
According to Yardeni, it is more exciting to talk about the market reaching new record-high numbers rather than dropping back down to those familiar, round figures.
On Wednesday, the news of inflation caused a surge in the major stock indexes, with each of them gaining over 5% and reaching new record highs. The positive momentum continued on Thursday, as the Dow saw a modest increase of a quarter of a percentage point during early trading.
Enthusiasm about artificial intelligence has largely driven the rise in value of some major tech firms, which observers have attributed to this year’s stock market rally.
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