Dow Jones breaks 30,000 milestone for first time as stocks soar amid vaccine hopes and formal start of Biden transition
The Dow Jones Industrial Average breached the 30,000-mark for the first time ever on Tuesday, as optimism soared on Wall Street amid hopes of multiple Covid-19 vaccines coming on-stream and an end to US election uncertainty.
Stock markets around the world plummeted in February and March as the coronavirus rapidly spread across Europe and the United States. News of vaccines showing promising results in recent weeks kicked off a rally that powered Wall Street's main indexes back to record highs.
The blue-chip Dow surpassed the psychologically significant 30,000 milestone shortly after trading opened on Tuesday, ending a 218 trading-day wait since it passed 29,000 on January 15.
The fresh milestone was reached after US President Donald Trump formally cleared the way for an orderly transition of power to President-elect Joe Biden on Monday.
Trump addressed the stock market surge in a brief press conference, congratulating the people in his administration and the American public.
“It’s never been broken that number. That’s a sacred number: 30,000. Nobody thought they’d ever see it,” he said.
President Trump: "I just want to congratulate everybody. The stock market Dow Jones Industrial Average just hit 30,000 which is the highest in history. We've never broken 30,000 and that's just despite everything that's taken place with the pandemic." pic.twitter.com/aKsXFqucfu
— CSPAN (@cspan) November 24, 2020
“I want to congratulate all the people within the [Trump] administration that worked so hard and most importantly I want to congratulate the people of our country because there are no people like you,” he added.
White House advisor Ivanka Trump also heralded the development, taking to Twitter to offer her congratulations to Americans.
Dow Jones Industrial Average hits 30,000 for the first time ever! Congratulations America! 🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/pQFRdxaIHL
— Ivanka Trump (@IvankaTrump) November 24, 2020
The Dow’s journey to 30,000 from the 20,000-milestone took less than four years, a lightning pace compared to its previous 10,000-point climb, which took nearly two decades.
Tuesday also saw the S&P index record 50 new 52-week highs and no new low, while the Nasdaq recorded 180 new highs and eight new lows.
Despite the stock market gains, US economic activity is still reeling from the damage inflicted by lockdowns and employment is at levels last seen in 2015.
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