Nasdaq surpasses 6,000 for the first time ever—marking historic milestone amid stock-market rally

[SirLinksALot]

SOURCE: REUTERS

URL: http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-stocks-idUSKBN17R1D8

by: By Yashaswini Swamynathan




The Nasdaq breached the 6,000 mark for the first time ever on Tuesday, spurred by a raft of strong corporate earnings and President Donald Trump's promise of a major tax reform plan.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq rose as much as 0.4 percent to hit a record level of 6,007.72 helped by gains in Biogen (BIIB.O) and Apple (AAPL.O).

The index first breached the 5,000 mark on March 7, 2000 and closed above that level two days later during the height of the tech boom. Biogen's shares jumped more than 4 percent after the biotech company reported better-than-expected quarterly profit and revenue on Tuesday.

At 9:36 a.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI was up 184.02 points, or 0.89 percent, at 20,947.91, the S&P 500 .SPX was up 9.71 points, or 0.41 percent, at 2,383.86 and the Nasdaq Composite .IXIC was up 22.27 points, or 0.37 percent, at 6,006.09.

Trump promised last week to make "a big tax reform and tax reduction" announcement on Wednesday. The president has directed his aides to move quickly on a plan to cut the corporate income tax rate to 15 percent from 35 percent, a Trump administration official said on Monday.

Nine of the 11 major S&P 500 sectors were higher, with materials .SPLRCM and financials .SPSY in the lead.

Better-than-expected profits at McDonald's (MCD.N) and Caterpillar (CAT.N) helped the Dow outperform other major Wall Street indexes.

Tuesday's gains build on a day-earlier rally, which was driven by the victory of centrist candidate Emmanuel Macron in the first round of the French presidential election. Polls show Macron is likely to beat his far-right rival Marine Le Pen in a deciding vote on May 7.

"The French vote and Trump's plan to slash corporate taxes to 15 percent are two powerful forces that will still likely contribute to a positive trend as earnings prove to be better than expected," Peter Cardillo, chief market economist at First Standard Financial wrote in a note.

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[Frank Cannon]

Juicero = Massive Tech Bubble

[catfish1957]

I'll be the first to tell you that if in '09 you'd told me that the NASDAQ was going to be at 6,000 in 8 years, or DJI at 21K, I'd said you were crazy.

[SirLinksALot]

I'll be the first to tell you that if in '09 you'd told me that the NASDAQ was going to be at 6,000 in 8 years, or DJI at 21K, I'd said you were crazy.

I remember when the NASDAQ (QQQ) hit 5,000 for the first time ever in Y2000. I was working at the NASDAQ stock market as a software engineer and every one was celebrating the event with champagne and cookies.

It proceeded to drop by 1,500 points a few months later. It took 16 years for it to return to 5,000.

[catfish1957]

I remember when the NASDAQ (QQQ) hit 5,000 for the first time ever in Y2000. I was working at the NASDAQ stock market as a software engineer and every one was celebrating the event with champagne and cookies.

It proceeded to drop by 1,500 points a few months later. It took 16 years for it to return to 5,000.

Honestly, in '09 when it dropped to 1300 I didn't expect to see it at 5000 in my lifetime.