Wednesday, May 8, 2013

A Long, Hard Slog to 15,000

Yesterday, for the first time in its history, the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed above 15,000 points. It was a long hard climb to that level: The Dow had reached 14,000 for the first time back on July 19, 2007, before beginning its long crash that October. That means it took nearly six years to cross that last 1,000 points.

By contrast, the Dow moved from 13,000 to 14,000 in the space of just three months back in 2007. But that's hardly a record for moving from one set of three zeroes to the next. During the dizzying days of the dot-com era, the Dow hit 10,000 for the first time on March 29, 1999, then made it to 11,000 on May 3 - barely more than a month later.

On the other hand, it could have been a lot slower as well. The Dow was first formulated in 1896, and didn't make it to the 1,000 mark until November 14, 1972 - a span of more than 76 years.

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