The Dow Jones Industrial Average broke through 30,000 points Tuesday as investors were encouraged by the latest progress on developing coronavirus vaccines and news that the transition of power in the U.S. to President-elect Joe Biden will finally begin.
Traders were also encouraged to see that Biden had selected Janet Yellen, a widely respected former Federal Reserve chair, as treasury secretary.
The Dow rose 454 points, or 1.5%, to close at 30,046.
The S&P 500 index, which has a far greater impact on 401(k) accounts than the Dow does, rose 1.6%. Treasury yields rose as investors became more optimistic about the economy.
After the historic milestone, President Trump made a quick announcement to the press inside the White House:
Well, thank you very much. 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.
I'm very thrilled with what's happened on the vaccine front, that's been absolutely incredible. Nothing like that has ever happened, medically, and I think people are acknowledging that, and it's having a big effect.
But the stock market's just broken 30,000, never been broken that number. That’s a sacred number 30,000, nobody thought they'd ever see it. That's the ninth time since the beginning of 2020. And it's the 48th time that we've broken records in, during the Trump administration.
And I just want to congratulate all the people within the administration that work so hard. And most importantly, I want to congratulate the people of our country, because there are no people like you. Thank you very much, everybody. Thank you.
(The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
