Benchmark S&P Closes With a Milestone '4'

The benchmark S&P 500 closed in uncharted territory on Thursday—north of 4,000. The index rose 46 points, or 1.1%, to finish at 4,019. It's the first time the index has ever crossed the threshold, let alone closed above it, reports CNBC. The Dow rose 171 points, or 0.5%, to 33,153, and the Nasdaq rose 233 points, or 1.7%, to 13,480. The Wall Street Journal notes that it took the S&P only 434 trading days to move from 3,000 to 4,000. By contrast, it took the index more than 1,200 days to go from 2,000 to 3,000. Tech stocks, especially Microsoft, led the way to Thursday's gains, per the AP. The strong day actually closes the week—markets are closed until Monday because of Good Friday.

“The reopening of the US economy continues to support equity markets as the light at the end of the coronavirus tunnel draws near,” Craig Johnson of Piper Sandler tells CNBC. "Fiscal and monetary policy support remain unprecedented and well-telegraphed at this juncture.” This is the second all-time high for the S&P in a week, and it comes on the heels of its fourth straight quarterly increase. Axios notes that the index fell to a low of 2,192 last year when the pandemic began and has nearly doubled since. (More stock market stories.)