The Dow Jones Industrial Average surged more than 1,200 points Friday, leading a broader stock-market rebound.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average reached 50,000 for the first time ever on Friday, with the index hitting a 10,000 milestone in record time showing the power and resilience of the current U.S. bull market.
The U.S. stock market has seen a bumpy to start to the year, but Friday's big rebound signaled that investors are ready to the buy the dip and keep the bull market running.
It has been 431 trading days since the Dow's last 10,000 milestone was hit on May 17, 2024, when the U.S. equities benchmark first closed above the 40,000 level, according to Dow Jones Market Data.
Table showing DJIA 10,000-point milestones, including closing levels, dates, gains, and days to next milestone from 1999 to 2026.
The milestone comes despite jitters over tech stocks earlier in the week raised worries about the stock market's momentum this year.
The Dow DJIA, a gauge of blue-chip stocks in the U.S., surged 1,206.95 points to closed up 2.5% at 50,115.67, scoring a fresh record high, according to Dow Jones Market Data. Friday's rally marked the Dow's biggest percentage gain since May 12 of last year.
Technology giant Nvidia, industrial companies Caterpillar and 3M, biotech company Amgen and major Wall Street bank Goldman Sachs finished as the Dow's top five performers on Friday, according to FactSet data.
The Dow eclipsing 50,000 points will capture the attention of individual investors who don't track the stock market closely on a daily basis, although the S&P 500 index SPX is a broader benchmark and a better representation of U.S. equities and the economy, according to Scott Wren, senior global market strategist at Wells Fargo Investment Institute.
The new milestone for the Dow could spur some individual investors to chase the rally, Wren said in a phone interview Friday. For his part, Wren expects the U.S. stock market will continue to rise this year on the back of an accelerating economy, saying that Wells Fargo Investment Institute earlier this week raised its forecast for growth this year in real gross domestic product in the U.S. by a half percentage point to 2.9%.
The Dow's big day on Friday also caught the attention of President Donald Trump. "The Dow Jones Industrial Average just hit 50,000 for the first time in History. CONGRATULATIONS AMERICA!," Trump wrote in a social-media post on Friday afternoon.
The U.S. stock market rebounded sharply ahead of the weekend, with all three major benchmarks bouncing from Thursday's selloff. The Dow notched its fifth record closing high of 2026, while the S&P 500 ended 2% higher Friday and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite COMP rose 2.2%.
Still, a brutal week marked by a selloff in tech stocks over the previous three days left the S&P 500 and Nasdaq with weekly losses. That's in contrast to the Dow, which advanced 2.5% on the week.
The Dow's top performer Friday, artificial-intelligence-chip maker Nvidia, gained almost 8% to book its best day since April 9, according to Dow Jones Market Data. Despite that large rebound, Nvidia's shares had a weekly loss of 3%, reflecting the tech sector's tumultuous week.