What Is the Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA All-Time High?
The Dow set two milestones in 2014 and set 39 closing records. Share repurchases among the S&P 500 companies were 59% higher in the first quarter of 2014 than the first quarter in 2013. It was the largest amount since 2007, right before the stock market crashed. The Sept. 29, 2008 stock market crash is among the most dramatic economic events of U.S. history to date. Although the market’s 50% drop is less than the Great Depression’s 90% drop, it takes only 17 months to reach that low, compared to a period of four years in the 1930s. The Dow falls 13% in October 2008 and hits a new low for the year of 7,552.29 in November 2008.
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Dow Jones All-Time Highs vs. Other Major Indices (
The one before that came on the final trading day of 2021, when Dow closed at 36,488.63 on Dec. 29, 2021, smashing the record it set on Nov. 8, 2021. The Dow witnessed a sharp decline in the end of November over fears of inflation and the COVID-19 pandemic, before resuming its quest to break more all-time high milestones. Record highs are driven by a mix of economic growth, lower inflation, strong corporate earnings, and investor confidence. Fed policy plays a major role, lower interest rates often push the Dow higher.
Has the Dow ever closed above 45,000?
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. The Dow hit record highs in 2024–2025 thanks to a perfect storm of strong earnings, lower inflation, and huge gains from mega-cap tech stocks.
Stock Market Crash
With inflation cooling and the Fed signaling possible rate cuts, analysts expect more record-setting moves through late 2025. The highest-ever multiple for the S&P 500’s Shiller P/E (44.19) occurred in December 1999, just a few months before the dot-com bubble burst. The stock market is now within sight of this all-time high. Most investors turn to the traditional price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio as the foundation for evaluating a stock. A company’s P/E ratio is arrived at by dividing its share price into its trailing-12-month earnings per share (EPS), with a lower reading usually indicative of a better value.
A November streak occurred after Donald Trump’s presidential win on Nov. 8. Traders were confident in a business-friendly Republican president. The index closed above 23,000 on Oct. 18, 2017; slightly more than a month later, it broke 24,000. 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.
Highest Dow Jones Close Ever Reached (2024–
The market fell more than 50% in just a year and a half because of subprime mortgage and credit crisis that kicked off the Great Recession. Sean Williams has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned.
The Federal Reserve began buying banks’ mortgages as they recognized that banks did not have adequate liquidity. Take a look at the Dow Jones Industrial Average over the course of its history and you also have a reliable history of the U.S. stock market. Its peaks and valleys shed light on the workings — and volatility — of the global economy. Intraday highs show the peak value during the trading session, but the “record close” at 45,631.74 on August 22 is the official all-time high most investors track. 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.
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.
- A record high doesn’t mean “buy now” or “panic sell”—it’s just one milestone in the market’s long journey.
- The highest Dow Jones Industrial Average close is 45,631.74, set on August 22, 2025.
- Because of the price-weighted calculation method, a $1 change in the price of a stock in the DJIA doesn’t equate to one point in the index since that depends on the Dow divisor at the time.
- Of the 26 records set that year, 17 occurred after the presidential election.
- Different indices reflect different trading styles, short-term Nasdaq rallies mirror day trading vs swing trading strategies in practice.
👉 For active traders, record highs also bring opportunity. 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 largest single-day drop, percentage-wise, that the Dow has had occurred when the market crashed on Oct. 19, 1987, Black Monday. Dating back to January 1871, there have only been six documented instances, including the present, where the Shiller P/E surpassed 30 and held this level for a minimum of two months during a continuous bull market. The previous five occurrences were eventually followed by drawdowns ranging from 20% to 89% in one or more of Wall Street’s major stock indexes.
Stocks with higher prices (like UnitedHealth or Goldman Sachs) have more impact on the index than lower-priced stocks, even if they’re smaller 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 Dow Jones always bounces back—even after historic crashes. Every bear market in U.S. history has been followed by a new record high. While you can’t directly buy shares in the market index, you can invest in the DJIA through index funds and exchange-traded funds (ETFs) such as the SPDR Dow Jones Industrial Average ETF Trust (DIA). These funds track the DJIA through a similar composition and weighting of stocks.
- The records set in the fall were the first ones since the Dow reached 26,616.71 on Jan. 26, 2018.
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- Many investors—both institutional and individual—had borrowed or leveraged heavily to buy stocks, and the crash that began on Black Thursday wiped them out financially, leading to widespread bank failures.
- These actions artificially raised their earnings per share and the prices of their remaining outstanding stocks (stocks which are still held by shareholders).
Confidence that a recession could be averted continued into 2024. The Dow climbed above 38,000 in January 2024 and reached 40,000 by May. The index peaked again in July, almost reaching 42,000, then rallied in September when the Fed started cutting interest rates for the first time since 2020. The following are some milestones achieved by the Dow Jones Industrial Average. In parentheses, when helpful, we provide the Dow’s points as inflation-adjusted to Feb. 23, 2024, for a relative comparison to its record highs. The Dow Jones Industrial Average, also known as the Dow or DJIA, tracks 30 large, well-known companies that beginner forex tips trade on the New York Stock Exchange and Nasdaq.
It reaches its lowest point of 6,594.44 on March 5, 2009 during a bear market. In recent years, investors have become accustomed to record highs for the Dow, but there have also been a few pronounced drops. That said, we’ve never seen a fall as dramatic as the stock market crash of 1929, after which the Dow lost nearly 90% of its value over the course of three years. 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. For long-term investors, these milestones are reminders to stay disciplined.
While there are always pullbacks, the Dow has set new records after every major correction for over 100 years. See the top 10 highest closing values in Dow Jones history, including the record-breaking 45,014.04 set on December 4, 2024. A record high doesn’t mean “buy now” or “panic sell”—it’s just one milestone in the market’s long journey. Since the Great Depression, 2007 to 2008 has been the most dramatic period for the DJIA.
As such, point moves are a way to measure the relative change in the index’s value. That said, when comparing the value of the DJIA over time, many financial sites, as we have done above, use an inflation-adjustment calculator such as the U.S. Bureau of Labor’s CPI since this gives the relative change over time.
When Trump began the transition process late in November, 2020, stocks roared back. Many records were set in 2019, thanks partly to trade talks with China that boosted firms in the index. While this valuation premium is indicative of the optimism and excitement for AI, quantum computing, earnings growth, and ongoing rate cuts by the central bank, it’s also a historical signal that trouble is brewing. As the S&P 500, Dow Jones Industrial Average, and Nasdaq Composite have continued their seemingly uninterrupted march higher over the last six months and change, so have stock valuations. Even so, the gains posted by Ambrx Biopharma (AMAM) in Friday’s session are unusual and particularly eye-catching.
