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Dow surges to first close above 40,000

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Dow surges to first close above 40,000

It took literally all of Friday’s trading session, but the Dow Jones Industrial Average hit its first close above 40,000.

The blue-chip average finished at 40,000.59, up 132 points, or 0.34% right at the 4 p.m. ET close. The index had hit an intraday high of 40,51.05 on Thursday before dropping back to 39,865.

The Dow’s performance was the day’s best among the major averages. The S&P 500 was up 6 points, or 0.1%, to 5,303. The Nasdaq Composite was down 12 points, or 0.1%, to 16,685.97.

Related: Stock Market Today: Wall Street look to extend searing May rally; GameStop buckles

The S&P 500 and Nasdaq (as well as the Dow) had hit record closes on Wednesday.

The index was up 1.2% for the week. It has climbed 5.8% so far in May and has risen 6.1% for the year.

The Dow on Friday was pushed higher primarily by gains in Caterpillar  (CAT) , UnitedHealth Group  (UNH) , Goldman Sachs  (GS) , JP Morgan Chase  (JPM) , and Boeing  (BA) .

The Dow’s big move this past week is part of a massive stock-market rally that erupted in late October.

Since the market bottomed in October, the blue-chips have risen more than 23%. The S&P 500 is up 28.8%, and the Nasdaq has jumped 32.5%.

Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange in January. <p></div></div></div><div class=
Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange in January.

Michael M&period; Santiago&sol;Getty Images

Why stocks have risen since October

The initial catalyst for the big rally was the Federal Reserve’s signal it had basically finished raising rates to beat down inflation.

An additional fuel was investors’ realizing a recession in 2024 was probably not going to happen.

Then, investors became enamored with the potential of artificial intelligence, pushing shares of Nvidia  (NVDA)  up 87% this year after a 239% gain in 2023.

More on markets

Nvidia’s earnings, Microsoft conference may boost tech

Nvidia reports fiscal first-quarter earnings after Wednesday’s close. The shares were off 2% on Friday but up 2.9% for the week.

Meanwhile, Microsoft  (MSFT)  opens its 2024 Build conference on Tuesday and is expected to announce a number of AI-related products, including a laptop computer with AI.

Microsoft was off 0.2% on Friday to $420.21. It was up 3.3% on the week and is up 11.8% for the year.

There’s hope the rally can continue next week with a host of earnings, especially the Nvidia report. Also reporting  are Palo Alto Networks  (PANW)  on Monday, home-improvement retailer Lowe’s  (LOW)  on Tuesday, Target  (TGT)  and Snowflake  (SNOW)  on Wednesday and Intuit  (INTU)  on Thursday.

The Dow’s close above 40,000 comes more than three years after its first close above 30,000, which came on Dec. 4, 2020. Its first close above 20,000 came on Jan. 25, 2017.

Related: Veteran fund manager picks favorite stocks for 2024

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