Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Dow Hits 15,000 For The First Time; Closes Just Shy Of The Mark

Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange after the morning bell on May 1.
Spencer Platt
/
Getty Images
Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange after the morning bell on May 1.

The stock market continues its winning streak: The Dow Jones hit another milestone today, tapping 15,000 for the first time, but closing just shy of the milestone.

This, of course, follows good news about the job market released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

All of this got The Wall Street Journal thinking: just how long does it take the Dow to climb 1,000 points. They explain:

"The answers vary, but the latest stretch from when the blue-chip average initially climbed over 14000 to its current level is one of the longest on record, underscoring the severe drought and subsequent comeback stocks have ridden over the past decade.

"The answers vary, but the latest stretch from when the blue-chip average initially climbed over 14000 to its current level is one of the longest on record, underscoring the severe drought and subsequent comeback stocks have ridden over the past decade."

According to the Journal, it took the Dow 1,457 days to go from 14,000 to 15,000. But just 58 days to go from 13,000 to 14,000. It took the index 21,651 days to reach 1,000.

Oh, and by the way, the S&P made out well, too, closing above the 1,600 mark for the first time.

USA Today reports:

"After the employment report, traders were breathing a little easier "that the sky is not yet falling on the U.S. economic expansion," says Scott Anderson, chief economist at Bank of the West.

"At the close Friday, preliminary figures showed the Dow up 139.65 points or 0.94% at 14,971.23, the S&P 500 was 16.32 points or 1.02% higher at 1,613.91, and the tech-laden Nasdaq composite index was up 36.98 points or 1.11% at around 3,377.60. The index was trading at its highest levels in more than 12 years."

Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

Corrected: May 3, 2013 at 12:00 AM EDT
An earlier version of this post said the Dow closed above 15,000. It hit 15,000 during the day, but closed just shy of that number.
Eyder Peralta is NPR's East Africa correspondent based in Nairobi, Kenya.