Aug 15 – The Dow Jones Industrial Average briefly touched a new intraday record on Friday, completing the trio of major U.S. indexes reaching fresh highs amid hopes of easier monetary policy, progress on trade deals, and strong corporate earnings. The Dow rose 0.3% to 45,062 points, propelled by a 9.5% surge in UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH) shares after Warren Buffett (Trades, Portfolio)’s Berkshire Hathaway revealed a new stake.
Blue-chip heavyweights including Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS), Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT), and Caterpillar (NYSE:CAT) drove the index’s climb, while Nvidia (NASDAQ:NVDA) also supported gains with its year-to-date surge above 30%. Despite the rally, the Dow lagged the S&P 500 and Nasdaq, which reached record highs in June, due in part to its limited exposure to high-performing AI stocks and mixed results from names like UnitedHealth and Salesforce (NYSE:CRM).
According to analysts, the Dow, a historically high value, price-weighted index, has, since its April lows, owing to trade tensions and tariffs-related announcements, returned more than 20%. Hope in the possible trade deals between the U.S. and other nations, a loose labour market, and possible Fed rate decreases have also strengthened investor positioning to an extent, indicating a tentatively optimistic blue-chip stocks position as far as the index on Wall Street is concerned, as it looks toward realizing sustained stability.
This article first appeared on GuruFocus.