As of August 2025, the Dow is up +9.5% year-to-date, while the S&P 500 has gained +13.2% and the Nasdaq +15.4%. Tech-heavy Nasdaq leads global markets thanks to strong performance in AI and semiconductor stocks. A record high doesn’t mean the market will only go up or that it’s time to panic. Shares for most of the firms tracked by Dow rose in value on Friday, led by Intel (4.7%), IBM (2.8%) and Home Depot (2.6%), while shares for Walmart, Boeing and JPMorgan Chase fell slightly.
Join MasterFunders today and start your trading career with real backing. That means companies with higher stock prices move the Dow more, even if they aren’t the largest by market value. From the Great Depression to COVID-19, but it has always bounced back to set new records. The August 2025 record is just the latest proof of that resilience. The DJIA is a stock index that tracks 30 major U.S. companies, known as the “Dow 30.” It’s one of the best-known ways to measure the U.S. stock market.
How Do I Invest in the Dow Jones Industrial Average?
The index’s 2016 closing high was 19,974.62, set on Dec. 20, 2016. It hit two of them in the first few weeks in January, closing above 25,000 on Jan. 4. The index breached 26,000 on Jan. 17, then continued on to set 15 closing records in the rest of 2018. But this robust start was not indicative of extreme volatility the index would face as the year progressed. First, the conflict between Russia and Ukraine saw gas prices spike sharply. At the same time, the strength in the U.S. labor market meant extremely competitive wages driving consumer demand.
- All these events created a lot of uncertainty for investors and the Dow bore the brunt of it, falling into a bear market in September 2022.
- It began on Jan. 4, when the Dow closed 160 points lower as investors worried about a slowdown in China’s economic growth.
- The Dow fell 17% in three months, from 2,864.60 on Aug. 2 to 2,365.10 on Oct. 11, 1990.
Dow Jones Industrial Average ($DOWI)
A record high doesn’t mean “buy now” or “panic sell”—it’s just one milestone in the market’s long journey. To account for stock splits and changes in the lineup, the Dow uses a special number called the index divisor. This lets the index stay consistent even as companies come and go. The Dow fell 17% in three months, from 2,864.60 on Aug. 2 to 2,365.10 on Oct. 11, 1990.
What Investors Should Remember:
At MasterFunders, funded traders can test strategies in rising markets without risking personal savings, trading with firm capital instead of their own. Learn more about what a prop firm is and how it can help you trade bigger during record-breaking market cycles. The Dow started 2022 with a flourish, breaking closing records in the first two trading days of the year. The most recent record closing occurred on Jan. 4, when the index closed at 36,799.65, blowing past the all-time high closing of 36,585.06 it had just a day before. The Dow Jones hitting 45,631.74 in August 2025 shows how strong U.S. markets remain, with tech earnings, lower inflation, and Fed policy fueling record highs.
On Monday, Sept. 15, 2008, Lehman Brothers Holding, Inc. (an investment bank) declared bankruptcy. On Wednesday, panicky bankers withdrew $144 billion from money market funds, almost causing a collapse. Kimberly Amadeo has 20 years of experience in economic analysis and business strategy. With Daily Quotes selected, the dates displayed are the current date plus the previous 4 days.
The Dow, relying on share prices rather than market capitalization, passed 40,000 for the first time on May 16 after Walmart’s shares reached an all-time high. The index passed the threshold again the following day before reaching its all-time intraday high as trading opened the next week. Dow’s record-setting day follows inflation falling to its lowest point in a year, increasing the possibility of the Federal Reserve cutting interest rates. Consumer prices also fell month-over-month for the first time since Best cryptocurrencies to invest in 2025 2020.
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Perhaps the most infamous trough was during the Great Depression, in which the Dow lost about 90% of its value over three years. It hit a low of 41.22 in 1932 (about 908 points, inflation-adjusted). Journalist Charles Dow and his business partner, Edward Jones, established the Dow Jones Industrial Average in 1896 with 12 companies in the industrial sector. The number of companies included in the index increased to 20 in 1916 and then to the current number, 30, in 1928. Since then, the Dow has remained among the most frequently discussed and commonly tracked equities indexes. The highest closing value ever for the Dow Jones is 45,014.04, set on December 4, 2024.
The Dow had two streaks lasting more than 10 days, which had not occurred since 1959. This high occurred only 42 trading sessions after closing above 19,000. That is the second-fastest rise in U.S. history (currently, the record is 24 sessions to go from 10,000 to 21,000 in 1999). In 2019, the Dow hit two milestones and set 22 record closes. On July 3, the Dow hit a new high when the Trump administration announced it would resume trade negotiations with China, averting additional tariffs (taxes on imports). The Dow posted its all-time high during in December 2024, peaking at over 45,000 points.
These actions artificially raised their earnings per share and the prices of their remaining outstanding stocks (stocks which are still held by shareholders). The records set in the fall were the first ones since the Dow reached 26,616.71 on Jan. 26, 2018. After hitting the Jan. 26 peak, the Dow went into free fall, dropping 4% the next week. On Feb. 8, it entered a market correction when it fell 1,032.89 points to 23,860.46. Stock market gains since the 2008 financial crisis were mediocre in volume. Only three days traded more than 200 million shares, a level similar to the late 1990s.
- The Dow tracks 30 large, publicly owned blue-chip companies trading on the New York Stock Exchange and the Nasdaq.
- By the end of 2023, the previous high, registered in January 2022, had been surpassed, and the 37,000 mark had been breached.
- Record-low interest rates allowed firms such as Apple and IBM to borrow billions to buy back shares.
- The DJIA is a price-weighted stock index made up of 30 major U.S. companies.
The Dow Jones is a price-weighted index—this means the 30 companies with the highest stock prices move the Dow the most, not the biggest by market cap. The DJIA is a price-weighted stock index made up of 30 major U.S. companies. It’s one of the most-watched indicators of the stock market’s overall health.
How does the Dow’s 2025 record compare to the S&P 500 or Nasdaq?
The market responded positively to wholesale prices increasing 0.2% last month, higher than projections of 0.1%, according to FactSet. The S&P 500 index and Nasdaq have similarly peaked at record highs this year as technology stocks like Nvidia have swelled—though Nvidia is not a Dow Jones component. The highest Dow Jones Industrial Average close is 45,631.74, set on August 22, 2025. This surpassed the previous record of 45,014.04 from December 2024. The Dow’s all-time high reflects strong tech earnings, cooling inflation, and expectations of future Fed rate cuts. 👉 For active traders, record highs also bring opportunity.
