Dow, S&P Climb, Trump’s Stock Rally Runs On

Looks like the Trump rally may have some legs.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average touched a new high on Tuesday, notching gains above the psychologically important 19,000-point mark.

The Dow hit 19,023 intraday and then finished the day at that level, with a rally that has pushed that under up roughly 4 percent since Donald Trump was elected president two weeks ago. The 30 names in that index, of course, are among the marquee names in consumer goods and other sectors, ranging from Coca-Cola to Microsoft. Broader indices such as the S&P 500 are also at new highs.

It may be the Dow, however, that grabs the most attention, as the index has just about tripled off of lows seen during the great recession. The sharp move up for stocks signals that the Republican domination of the executive and legislative halls of power in Washington, D.C., will lead to reforms that will benefit business, perhaps most visibly on Wall Street.

As has been widely reported, the incoming Trump administration is looking to pass a stimulus initiative that will target rebuilding large swathes of U.S. infrastructure, from roads to airports. That impending boost to spending has helped buoy the stocks of Caterpillar, a Dow component, and other industrial firms. Large-cap Wall Street stocks like JPMorgan Chase have also rallied on the Trumpian promise to repeal at least parts of the Dodd-Frank act, which of course focuses on financial regulation.