Dow closes above 48,000 for first time, 17th record close of 2025
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 328 points to close above the 48,000 level for the first time on Wednesday, registering its 17th record high of the year as investors bet on the end of the longest government shutdown in history and shrugged off concerns about an AI bubble.
"We’re climbing that proverbial wall of worry. … The fundamental backdrop remains strong for all this talk about bubbles and such, but that’s just talk. Technical things happen for fundamental reasons, and I think the body of evidence through the lens of the markets themselves is still quite bullish into year-end and quite frankly into the new year," Rich Ross, Evercore ISI head of technical analysis, said on "Making Money with Charles Payne."
BESSENT PREDICTS STRONG U.S. ECONOMY
The Dow's back-to-back record close, driven by gains in UnitedHealth and Goldman Sachs, added to the benchmark’s 13% gain this year, which is still trailing the S&P 500 and Nasdaq, which have risen 16% and 21%, respectively. Tech member IBM also hit a record high after strong quarterly results.
Investors have poured money into exchange-traded funds this year at a fever pitch with U.S.-listed ETFs netting $171 billion in October, pushing totals for 2025 to over $1 trillion, according to the ETF Flash Flows report from State Street Investment Management.
US COMPANIES SECURE RECORD $170B IN GLOBAL CONTRACTS UNDER TRUMP SO FAR, COMMERCE SAYS
In the broader market, healthcare and financials paced modest gains for the S&P 500, lifting ETFs, including the SPDR Financial Index and the healthcare select sector ETF. The Nasdaq ended the session little changed, but AMD added 9% after the company delivered some ambitious targets at its investor day this week.
ETF NEWS AND ANALYSIS: FOXBUSINESS.COM
"The reason people are invested is because we're really starting to see the productivity benefits on the other side for all enterprises. So, absolutely, I mean, we look at this market, we've called it now, when we first started, we were thinking, is it three or $400 billion? Our last forecast was $500 billion in 2028. And now we see that the overall AI market can be greater than a trillion dollars by the time we get to 2030. And, so, there's a lot of AI demand out there right now" CEO Lisa Su said on "The Claman Countdown."
Investors also dismissed the dearth of government economic data due to the shutdown, including the latest inflation data that was set for this week and even a wake-up call from the White House.
GET FOX BUSINESS ON THE GO BY CLICKING HERE
"The Democrat shutdown made it extraordinarily difficult for economists, investors and policymakers at the Federal Reserve to receive critical government data. The Democrats may have permanently damaged the federal statistical system, with October CPI and jobs reports likely never being released. And all of that economic data released will be permanently impaired, leaving our policymakers at the Fed flying blind at a critical period," press secretary Karoline Leavitt said during her briefing.
The Fed's next meeting is scheduled for Dec. 10.
