The Dow Jones Industrial Average was on the brink of claiming a thousand-point milestone for the first time since January 2018, ending the longest period without crossing such a psychologically significant level since the blue-chip benchmark crossed the 19,000 threshold three weeks after Donald Trump was elected president in November 2016.
In early Thursday action, the Dow DJIA, +0.46% hit its intraday peak of 27,007.86.
If the Dow manages to close above 27,000, 372 trading sessions would have passed between its last initial finish at or above a round-number milestone at 26,000 back on Jan. 17. The Dow took 483 sessions to travel from 18,000 to 19,000 on Nov. 22, 2016.
The attempt at a history-making advance comes as markets have been buttressed by stock-supportive central-bank policy, with Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell on Wednesday in congressional testimony resetting the stage for a rate cut at the end of the month.
Check out: All the important Dow milestones in one chart
On Wednesday, the S&P 500 stock index SPX, +0.03% staked a claim at a new thousand-point milestone of its own, temporarily taking up a position at the 3,000 plateau for the first time in its history. The Nasdaq Composite Index COMP, -0.05% closed the day at a record high, its sixth of 2019, according to Dow Jones Market Data.
All three benchmarks were extending their runs in early Thursday dealings.
Technical analysts point out signs of weakness in the market’s setup, including underperformance by the Dow Jones Transportation Average DJT, +0.27% , which is trading in correction, defined as a decline of at least 10% from a recent, in its case Sept. 4, peak. Another measure of market breadth, the Value Line Geometric Index VALUG, -0.57% , an equal-weighted gauge of the broader market, is well off its Aug. 29 all-time high.
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