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Nasdaq Hits Record High of 6,000

Wall St. hit the ground running after Tuesday's opening bell, with the Dow Jones soaring 200 points and the Nasdaq topping 6,000 for the first time.
Traders work on the floor of the NYSE
Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange in New York City. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid

Wall Street hit the ground running after Tuesday's opening bell, with the Dow Jones soaring 200 points and the Nasdaq topping 6,000 for the first time ever, after several companies reported strong earnings.

The Nasdaq tech index last sizzled in the dot-com heydays of the 1990s, but has not made any real headlines since the infamous tech bubble burst in March 2000 — and the Nasdaq fell by 78 percent over the following 30 months.

Tech stocks now make up less than half the Nasdaq composite index.

Although reaching 6,000 is a historic milestone for the Nasdaq, it's similar to the Dow Jones hitting 20,000: "It's just a psychological barrier," said Peter Cardillo, chief market economist at First Standard Financial.

But, “It's a good sign that Corporate America is on a renewed path toward growth," Cardillo told CNBC this week.

Stocks were already buoyant on Monday, with investors breathing a sigh of relief after the results of the first round of the French presidential election came in. Far-right candidate Marine Le Pen came a close second, an outcome that left many investors feeling they had "dodged a bullet."

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin announced this week that the Trump administration will release its tax reform plan as early as Wednesday — a much-anticipated piece of legislature that has been a key factor in the stock market's rally since President Donald Trump's election.