Fed, Profits Push the Dow to 16000 --- Blue-Chip Average Up 22% for Year, Though Earnings Growth Is Slowing
The Dow industrials vaulted past another milestone as stocks closed above 16000 for the first time, extending a record run fueled by optimism for a recovering global economy and continuing low interest rates.</br></br>The 30-stock Dow Jones Industrial Average has now set 40 all-time highs in 2013 and is up 22% for the year. The index rose 109.17 points, or 0.7%, to a new high of 16009.99 on Thursday.</br></br>The advance has been broad-based but strongest among those companies with consumer-focused businesses whose recent cost-cutting efforts are seen as giving them an edge on rivals.</br></br>Airplane manufacturer Boeing Co. is up 76% this year, and apparel company Nike Inc., which was added to the index in September, is up 51%. Only two Dow components are down this year. Caterpillar Inc. and International Business Machines Corp. have declined 8.4% and 3.9%, respectively.</br></br>Stocks' record run comes amid a steady U.S. economic recovery along with the extraordinary easy-money policies of the Federal Reserve. Many investors say the Fed's bond-buying actions are helping the economy by keeping interest rates low and making stocks look more attractive compared with bonds and other investments.