The Dow Jones Industrial Average on Thursday topped 40,000 for the first time ever in the wake of a promising report about inflation.

What You Need To Know

  • The Dow Jones Industrial Average on Thursday topped 40,000 for the first time ever

  • The new record comes one day after the Dow, S&P and Nasdaq hit record highs following the release of a Labor Department's report which showed that consumer inflation cooled slightly last month

  • The S&P 500 and Nasdaq composite were both up 0.2% in morning trading on Wednesday

The Dow previously closed at 39,908 before rallying above the 40,000 threshold on Thursday morning, rising to 40,022.48 as of 10:51 a.m. ET and dropping slightly below the benchmark as of 11:20 a.m. ET.

The Dow is up about 6% for the year.

The S&P 500 was up 0.2% in morning trading on Wednesday, while the Nasdaq composite was up 0.2%. The new record comes one day after the Dow, S&P and Nasdaq hit record highs following the release of the Labor Department's report, which showed that consumer inflation cooled slightly last month.

President Joe Biden's reelection campaign celebrated the news and used it to attack the incumbent Democrat's presumptive opponent in November, former President Donald Trump, who said in January that he hoped an economic crash would happen under Biden's watch.

"Donald Trump promised the stock market would crash if Joe Biden was elected," Biden-Harris 2024 Communications Director Michael Tyler said in a statement. "Instead, Joe Biden has broken economic records across the board – from record small business growth to historically low unemployment and now a new high for the Dow, strengthening Americans’ retirement plans."

Walmart rose 6.4% after reporting stronger profit for the latest quarter than analysts expected. It also said its revenue for the year could top the forecasted range it had earlier given. That could be an encouraging signal for the broader economy, as worries have risen about whether U.S. households can keep up with still-high inflation and more expensive credit-card payments.

Target, which reports its quarterly results next week, was also rising, along with other retailers like Dollar General and Dollar Tree. All added at least 2%.

Chubb climbed 3.4% after Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway disclosed it had built an ownership stake in the insurer.

Stronger-than-expected profit reports have been one of the main reasons U.S. stock indexes jumped through May to records following their tough April. Another has been revived hopes that the Federal Reserve will be able to cut its main interest rate at least once or twice this year.

A string of worse-than-expected reports on inflation at the start of the year had put the potential for such cuts in jeopardy, but some more encouraging data has since arrived.

Treasury yields have eased in May as hopes rose that the economy could hit the hoped-for sweet spot, where it cools enough to stifle high inflation but not so much that it causes a bad recession. Yields were holding relatively steady Thursday following some mixed data on the economy.

On the losing end of Wall Street, Deere fell 2.1% despite reporting stronger profit for its latest quarter than expected. It cut its forecast for profit over the full fiscal year below analysts’ estimates, as farmers buy fewer tractors and other equipment.

Homebuilders fell following the weaker-than-expected report on housing starts. They gave back some of their big gains the day before, when hopes for lower mortgage rates had sent them sharply higher. Lennar fell 2.1%, and D.R. Horton slipped 1.8%.

GameStop and AMC Entertainment were also sliding for a second straight day, pulling back further from their jaw-dropping starts to the week. They’ve been moving more on excitement drummed up by investors than any changes to their financial prospects.

GameStop fell 17.5%, though it’s still up 86% for the week so far. AMC Entertainment lost 11.1%.