The Dow has an early lead so far this year.
The blue-chip index rose another 440 points, or 0.9%, in Tuesday trading. It already closed at a record on Monday, so any move higher will be a fresh milestone.
The S&P 500 was up 0.5%, putting it a touch above its Dec. 24 closing high. The Nasdaq Composite was up 0.5%.
That brings the Dow’s tally this year to a gain of 2.8%. The S&P 500 is up 1.3%, while the Nasdaq is up 1.1%.
The Dow can be hit or miss because it weighs its members by stock price rather than market cap. That means large swings for big stocks like Goldman Sachs Group or UnitedHealth Group have more of an impact than the likes of Nvidia. That was the case on Monday, when financials like Goldman Sachs pushed the Dow to its highest levels on record.
That trend is continuing on Tuesday as Wall Street favors materials and health care. Though some tech stocks are rallying, things are a bit messier for high-flying megacap tech stocks. That’s allowed the Dow to pull ahead on the year.
It’s a minuscule sample size, but we have to start somewhere.