The rate of return on investments can vary widely over time, especially for long term investments. Investment losses are possible, including the potential loss of all amounts invested, including principal. Brokerage services are provided to Titan Clients by Titan Global Technologies LLC and Apex Clearing Corporation, both registered broker-dealers and members of FINRA/SIPC. You may check the background of these firms by visiting FINRA’s BrokerCheck. The Dow experiences its largest single-day percentage drop of 22.6% on Oct. 19,1987. This so-called Black Monday crash is caused in part by computer trading that forces sell orders when the market trends down.
The Dow had two streaks lasting more than 10 days, which had not occurred since 1959. The Dow responded with new highs throughout the latter part of 2019, even though trade negotiations had broken down until November. It hit a milestone on July 11, closing above 27,000, and then another on Nov. 15, closing above 28,000 (in the chart below, milestones are noted). The close was just shy of a previous record close of 40,003 set on May 17.
Dow Jones All-Time Highs vs. Other Major Indices (
Every bear market in U.S. history has been followed by a new record high. When people talk about “the Dow,” they mean the Dow Jones Industrial Average—a group of top blue-chip stocks like Apple, Microsoft, and Coca-Cola, all traded on big U.S. exchanges like the NYSE. The DJIA shows how America’s biggest companies are performing and is a quick way to check the pulse of the economy.
Timeline of Key Milestones
For starters, the Dow Jones we know is not a person — but you already knew that. Named for its two founders, the Dow Jones is a stock market index, just like the or the Nasdaq. On that day, it closed at 7,286.27, a 37.8% decline from its peak. No one knew if a new bull market had begun until the Dow hit a higher low on March 11, 2003, closing at 7,524.06. The records set in the fall were the first ones since the Dow reached 26,616.71 on Jan. 26, 2018. After hitting the Jan. 26 peak, the Dow went into free fall, dropping 4% the next week.
How the Dow Jones all-time high compares to stock market leaps throughout history
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What has been the Dow’s largest, single-day point gain?
The Dow set two milestones in 2014 and set 39 closing records. Share repurchases among the S&P 500 companies were 59% higher in the first quarter of 2014 than the first quarter in 2013. It was the largest amount since 2007, right before the stock market crashed. The Dow Jones hitting 45,631.74 in August 2025 shows how strong U.S. markets remain, with tech earnings, lower inflation, and Fed policy fueling record highs. For long-term investors, these milestones are reminders to stay disciplined. The Sept. 29, 2008 stock market crash is among the most dramatic economic events of U.S. history to date.
Then, in the last few months of 2023, investors began piling back in as hopes grew that interest rates would soon be cut and a nasty recession averted. By the end of 2023, the previous high, registered in January 2022, had been surpassed, and the 37,000 mark had been breached. The Dow hit one milestone and had 26 closing records in 2016. Of the 26 records set that year, 17 occurred after the presidential election. The index’s 2016 closing high was 19,974.62, set on Dec. 20, 2016. It hit two of them in the first few weeks in January, closing above 25,000 on Jan. 4.
These funds track the DJIA through a similar composition and weighting of stocks. The recession from 1973 to 1975 also led to a falloff for the Dow, which dropped 45% from its 1,051 peak in 1973 to just under 600 in 1974 (about 7,486 and 3,871 points, respectively, inflation-adjusted). The Dow also lost 26.5% during the Cuban missile crisis of 1962. Confidence that a recession could be averted continued into 2024. The Dow climbed above 38,000 in January 2024 and reached 40,000 by May. The index peaked again in July, almost reaching 42,000, then rallied in September when the Fed started cutting interest rates for the first time since 2020.
The index breached 26,000 on Jan. 17, then continued on to set 15 closing records in the rest of 2018. 👉 For active traders, record highs also bring opportunity. At MasterFunders, funded traders can test strategies in rising markets without risking personal savings, trading with firm capital instead of their own.
Leading up to the Great Recession, banks had offered easy home loans to virtually everyone, including those with bad credit. Falling home prices throughout 2007 prompted defaults on subprime mortgages. The Federal Reserve began buying banks’ mortgages as they recognized that banks did not have adequate liquidity. In 2020, the Dow set a record high of 28,868.80 on Jan. 2 and another record a week later. After experiencing three of the biggest drops in history during the spring of 2020, it broke 30,000 on Nov. 24 and ended the year at a record high of 30,606.48. Take a look at the Dow Jones Industrial Average over the course of its history and you also have a reliable history of the U.S. stock market.
“40,000 is a great milestone, but end of the day there isn’t much difference between 39,999 and 40k,” Ryan Detrick, chief market strategist at Carson Group, said in a statement emailed Thursday. These big, round numbers don’t mean much, but they do serve as a reminder that over time stock investments can pay off. The S&P 500 has returned about 10.6% annually for the past 100 years, according to analysis from Trade That Swing. The Dow Jones industrial average finished above 40,000 for the first time on Friday afternoon, doubling where the index hit shortly after Donald Trump became the 45th president. The easiest way to invest in the Dow may be to buy shares in State Street Global Advisors’ SPDR Dow Jones Industrial Average ETF Trust, which trades under the ticker symbol DIA.
Its peaks and valleys shed light on the workings — and volatility — of the global economy. The DJIA is a price-weighted stock index made up of 30 major U.S. companies. It’s one of the most-watched indicators of the stock market’s overall health. The longest bull market in history lasted about 11 years, starting in March 2009 and ending in February 2020. But the historic peak was delayed by strong economic news, an upturn in March inflation data and statements from Fed officials suggesting interest-rate cuts wouldn’t be coming soon. The index closed above 18,000 on Dec. 23, and then closed its high for the year at 18,053.71 on Dec. 26.
- This lets the index stay consistent even as companies come and go.
- The bout of inflation that followed the COVID-19 pandemic led to another sharp sell-off in 2022.
- Before that, it took more than 24 years for the index to double from 625 in the spring of 1959 to September 1983.
- The downturn reflected a 10-month recession, from July 1953 to May 1954, during the military demobilization following the Korean War.
Only three days traded more than 200 million shares, a level similar to the late 1990s. The Dow was volatile in 2015 because it was based on just a few companies. Record-low interest rates allowed firms such as Apple and IBM to borrow billions to buy back shares. These actions artificially raised their earnings per share and the prices of their remaining outstanding stocks (stocks which are still held by shareholders). The Dow Jones Industrial Average is one of the many gauges of stock market performance. This history of the Dow since the Great Depression demonstrates how stock market fluctuations reflect the natural stages of the business cycle.
- The California-based chip maker on Wednesday added $330bn to its market capitalisation – blasting past the previous record it set in February with a $277bn single-day gain.
- Record-low interest rates allowed firms such as Apple and IBM to borrow billions to buy back shares.
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- The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) hit its record high on May 16, 2024, reaching 40,051.05 points during intraday trading.
- Only three days traded more than 200 million shares, a level similar to the late 1990s.
Perhaps the most infamous trough was during the Great Depression, in which the Dow lost about 90% of its value over three years. It hit a low of 41.22 in 1932 (about 908 points, inflation-adjusted). While the 40,000 milestone is attention-grabbing, the number itself means little to investors. Here’s a look at each period where the Dow Jones industrial average doubled since the index topped 1250 for the first time in September 1983. The Dow Jones Industrial average has doubled every 8.1 years, or 2,969 days, since 1983.
Record Highs Set in 2022
This beat the previous high of 45,014.04 from December 2024. Many investors—both institutional and individual—had borrowed or leveraged heavily to buy stocks, and the crash that began on Black Thursday wiped them out financially, leading to widespread bank failures. That, in turn, became the catalyst that sent the United States into the Great Depression of the 1930s. Many were buying stocks on margin—the practice of buying an asset where the buyer pays only a percentage of the asset’s value and borrows the rest from the bank or a broker.
It hit an all-time high of 34,200.67 points on Apr. 16, 2021. In the autumn, it began to consistently close above 35,000 points, and by the last week in December 2021, it surpassed 36,000 points. The downturn reflected a 10-month recession, from July 1953 to May 1954, during the military demobilization following the Korean War. The Dow fell 17% in three months, from 2,864.60 on Aug. 2 to 2,365.10 on Oct. 11, 1990.
The content on this website is for informational purposes only and does not constitute a comprehensive description of Titan’s investment advisory services. Charts and graphs provided within are for informational purposes solely and should not be relied upon Alligator indicator when making any investment decision. Any projections, estimates, forecasts, targets, prospects, and/or opinions expressed in these materials are subject to change without notice and may differ or be contrary to opinions expressed by others. Please see Titan’s Legal Page for additional important information. While there are always pullbacks, the Dow has set new records after every major correction for over 100 years.
