On February 6, US time, the Dow Jones Industrial Average exceeded 50,000 points for the first time in history. The century-old index has reached a new milestone as the market rebounds from a tech stock sell-off earlier this week.

As of the afternoon of February 6th, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose more than 2% at one point, hitting a record high of 50,015 points, before tapering its rise to just under 50,000 points.

The index, which tracks 30 of America’s largest companies, was supported by Nvidia’s 7.2% gain, as well as gains in Caterpillar (6.4%), Goldman Sachs (4.2%), Microsoft (1.3%), Walmart (2.7%), IBM (3%) and JPMorgan Chase (4.1%).

The S&P 500 (up 1.7%) and Nasdaq (up 1.9%) also rose on February 6, US time, but with the Dow Jones Industrial Average up 2% year-to-date, both indexes are expected to be negative on a weekly basis.

It took 103 years for the Dow Jones Industrial Average to exceed 10,000 points for the first time. This stage was surpassed in March 1999 during the dot-com boom. After that, it took another 18 years to reach the 20,000 point milestone in January 2017.

S&P 500 in Seattle, about 70 years of history lectureOver 7000 pointsThis comes just over a year after the index was buoyed by gains from the November 2024 election. The index tracks the top 500 stocks in the U.S. by market capitalization and is weighted according to each company’s market capitalization, whereas the Dow Jones Industrial Average is calculated as a self-standard, compromising on company size.

The U.S. stock market has accelerated over the past year. That’s because demand for AI products has fueled tech companies’ sales and fueled the stock market for decades.anthropicwas shaken by the introduction of new AI tools. Microsoft claims the tool can perform multiple tasks, including analyzing legal documents, creating sales proposals, completing customer service tasks, and more, and the market has recognized it as a completely disruptive change in multiple industries.

Some economists have warned that the U.S. economy is decoupling from the stock market and keeping the “real economy” at a temporary pace, even though tech is driving broad gains in the Dow, Nasdaq and S&P 500. It noted that the “average” U.S. company’s growth was only 47%. The U.S. economy relies on wages, consumer spending and the job market, which have worsened over the past year, stocks are focused on profit margins and stock buybacks, and that still matters.

(forbes.com translation)