Dow surges back toward 20K-level on market's first day of '17

NEW YORK, Jan. 3 (UPI) -- All three major U.S. financial markets surged on Wall Street's first day of 2017, pushing the Dow Jones Industrial Average closer to the historic 20,000-mark.

The Dow spent December flirting with the unprecedented level -- coming within 25 points at its peak -- but never achieved it, spurning many analysts' predictions that the mark would be reached before the end of 2016.

The blue chip index gained 119 points Tuesday to close at 19,881.76, just 118 points shy of 20,000. The S&P 500 climbed 19 points to 2,257.83 and the Nasdaq gained 46 points to 5,429.08.

The Dow finished at 19,974.62 on Dec. 20, which is the nearest it's come so far to the historic close. The index suffered modest losses at the end of December to scuttle the record, finishing at 19,762 on its final day of 2016, Dec. 30.

The Dow came within 71 points of the mark in early trading Tuesday, but suffered a few hours of declines before rebounding again in the afternoon.

Still the index has continued its post-election rally. By Tuesday's close, the Dow was 1,549 points ahead of its election day finish of 18,332.74 on Nov 8 -- an increase of nearly 8.5 percent.