DOW 22,000
The Dow Jones Industrial Average cracked a new milestone on Wednesday: 22,000.
The blue chip index rallied on the back of Apple (AAPL), which gained 4.7% to be tops for the index after reporting better-than-expected earnings on Tuesday after the bell.
Because the Dow is a price-weighted index — meaning it gives weight to members based on the price of its shares, not is market cap — Apple’s surge on Wednesday added about 50 points to the index.
The Dow ultimately gained 52 points, or 0.24%, to close at 22,016.24.
Elsewhere in markets, it was a mixed day with the S&P 500 gaining 1 point, or 0.05%, and the Nasdaq losing just 0.29 points for a move of 0%. Breadth in the market was not particularly impressive, however, with declining stocks outpacing advancers by a margin of about two to one.
Meanwhile, the U.S. dollar fell to a 27-month low and has erased all of its post-election gains. The dollar had rallied after Donald Trump’s win in anticipation of higher economic growth and potential trade restrictions coming from the administration. Fundamentally, however, the economic picture has not changed in the U.S. with Trump in the White House.
The headline stock indexes on Wednesday masked some churn below the surface, notably in Chinese stocks, which sold off on reports the Trump administration could be looking into Chinese intellectual property rules.
On Tuesday morning, Trump again tweeted about the stock market — a recurring theme over the last few weeks — saying the market could hit an all-time high of 22,000.
The economic highlight was research institute ADP’s report on private sector payroll growth in July, which showed 178,000 jobs were added to the economy during the month, slightly less than expected by economists.
This report comes two days ahead of the government’s official jobs numbers set for release on Wednesday.
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Myles Udland is a writer at Yahoo Finance. Follow him on Twitter @MylesUdland
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