US stock rally lifts Dow to first close above 26,000 points

A broad rally on Wall Street propelled the Dow Jones industrial average to close above 26,000 points for the first time Wednesday.

The sharp gains also delivered record highs for the Standard & Poor’s 500 index and the Nasdaq composite, wiping out the market’s modest losses from a day earlier.

Technology and health care companies accounted for much of the gains. Financials stocks also rose, even as some big banks fell after reporting hefty quarterly losses.

“As yesterday’s pullback suggests, investors and traders will come back into a market in which they still see an upside,” said Quincy Krosby, chief market strategist at Prudential Financial. “But the market remains overbought, and an overbought market is susceptible to a pullback.”

The Dow gained 322.79 points, or 1.3 percent, to 26,115.65.

The S&P 500 index rose 26.14 points, or 0.9 percent, to 2,802.56. The Nasdaq added 74.59 points, or 1 percent, to 7,298.28. The Russell 2000 index of smaller-company stocks picked up 13.69 points, or 0.9 percent, to 1,586.66.

The Dow traded above the 26,000-point threshold on Tuesday, but wound up closing lower. Its surge Wednesday was driven in part by a gain in Boeing, which posted the biggest gain in the 30-company average.

With the stock market reaching records so often, 1,000-point moves in the Dow have become increasingly commonplace. It’s been just eight trading days since the Dow had its first close above 25,000 on Jan. 4. That’s faster than the 23 days it took the Dow to go from 24,000 to 25,000 points.

The stock market is off to a stellar start in 2018. The S&P 500 index has closed lower only twice this year. It capped last week with its seventh weekly gain in the past eight.