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Dow rises 454 points, surpasses 30,000 points for the first time in history

Artist Jim Chillington paints a picture of the New York Stock Exchange before the closing bell in New York City on Tuesday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed above the 30,000 mark for the first time in history. Photo by John Angelillo/UPI
1 of 3 | Artist Jim Chillington paints a picture of the New York Stock Exchange before the closing bell in New York City on Tuesday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed above the 30,000 mark for the first time in history. Photo by John Angelillo/UPI | License Photo

Nov. 24 (UPI) -- The Dow Jones Industrial Average topped the 30,000-point mark for the first time on Tuesday, fueled by certain blue chip stocks and the Trump administration's clearing the path for the presidential transition.

The Dow rose 454.97 points, or 1.54%, closing the day at 30,046.24, a day after the General Services Administration formally ascertained President-elect Joe Biden's election victory -- a key step in the transition process that unlocks millions in federal funds to aid the transfer of power.

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The Dow had been close to 30,000 a number of times in recent weeks and years but never reached the milestone.

In March, in the early weeks of the coronavirus pandemic, the index closed below 20,000 for the first time since 2017. It closed above 20,000 for the first time in history five days after President Donald Trump was inaugurated almost four years ago.

Trump held a brief press conference -- speaking for less than a minute -- on Tuesday afternoon to "congratulate everybody" following the market milestone.

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"The stock market's just broken 30,000 -- never broken, that number. That's a sacred number, 30,000 and nobody thought they'd ever see it," Trump said. "I just want to congratulate all the people within the administration that worked so hard and most importantly I want to congratulate the people of our country because there are no people like you."

The two other major indexes also climbed Tuesday, with the S&P 500 rising 1.62% and the Nasdaq increasing 1.31%.

Blue chip stocks continued to grow following announcements from Pfizer/BioNTech, Moderna and AstraZeneca releasing positive news surrounding the efficacy of their COVID-19 vaccines.

Chevron rose 5% and Boeing climbed 3.3%, while JPMorgan Chase and Goldman Sachs increased 4.61% and 3.74% respectively.

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