Dow Hits First Record in Nearly Two Years as Rate Cut Bets Build
- Blue-chip index has risen over 27% since September 2022 nadir
- Rate-sensitive stocks ‘are starting to recover,’ Beiley says
The Dow has been boosted in recent months by the prospect of a resilient US economy, ebbing inflation and the latest batch of strong corporate earnings.
Photographer: Michael Nagle/BloombergThe Dow Jones Industrial Average notched its first record close in nearly two years, recouping all of its losses from the Federal Reserve’s aggressive rate hikes to tame inflation as confidence builds on Wall Street that the central is done raising borrowing costs and ready to start cutting.
After last touching an all-time high in January 2022, it’s been a dizzying road back for the oldest of the three main US stock market indexes, which slid into a bear market in September 2022. In that span, investors have faced the largest ground war in Europe since World War II, the fastest inflation since the 1980s, and the highest interest rates since the turn of the millennium.