Even weeks characterized by panic have ended with record highs, and this says a lot about the current mood among Wall Street investors. After a sharp rebound on Friday, February 6, the Dow Jones Industrial Average crossed the 50,000-point threshold for the first time, climbing 1,200 points (2.47%) in a single day. The broader S&P 500 index recovered most of the losses it had seen over the week, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq gained 2.18% that day, ending the week down 1.45%. Investors repositioned themselves, betting that the chill sweeping through the markets was only temporary.
US President Donald Trump took credit for reaching this milestone. “The ‘experts’ said that if I hit 50,000 on the Dow by the end of my term, I would have done a great job, but I hit 50,000 today, three years ahead of schedule,” he posted on his social media platform, Truth Social, urging voters to remember this ahead of the November midterm elections.
The fact that the Dow Jones was the top-performing index after such a turbulent week was no accident. The index represents shares of 30 of the largest American companies (rather than their market capitalization, as with the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq). As such, it is less exposed to tech giants, which have driven the massive rally in recent months and were the hardest hit during this difficult week. Investors shifted to more traditional stocks, such as the banks Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan Chase, the aircraft manufacturer Boeing, the industrial equipment maker Caterpillar or supermarket chain Walmart, which make up much of the index.
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