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The Dow closed down 300 points Tuesday, while the Nasdaq Composite booked a fresh record close after the technology-laden benchmark briefly traded above a milestone 10,000 on growing economic optimism. The Dow Jones Industrial Average shed 300.14 points, or 1.1%, to end at 27,272.30, snapping its longest win streak, six days, since the eight-session stretch ended Sept. 13, 2019. At session lows, the blue-chip index traded at 27,151.06. The S&P 500 index fell 25.21 points, or 0.8%, closing at 3,207.18.
The Nasdaq Composite Index advanced 29.01 points, or 0.3%, finishing at a record 9,953.75, after briefly touching an all-time intraday high of 10,002.50.
Meanwhile, the Nasdaq-100 index, representing the largest companies within the Nasdaq Composite by market value, gained 65.65 points, or 0.7%, ending at 9,967.17.
On Monday, the Dow finished within 7% of its Feb. 12 closing peak, while the S&P 500 index ended the session 4.5% from its Feb. 19 record closing high. The Nasdaq gained 110.66 points, or 1.1%, ending at 9,924.74, marking its first all-time closing record in four months.
The quickest stock market slump on record in February and March has been followed by one of the quickest recoveries ever, fueled by historic financial aid from the U.S. government and the Federal Reserve.
The economic stimulus has helped lift not only technology behemoths engaging in swift business during COVID-19 lockdowns, but also lagging value stocks and downtrodden shares of companies hard-hit by the pandemic.
“An incredibly narrow market had been driving the market higher,” said Mike Skillman, chief executive officer of Cadence Capital Management in Boston.
“The time was getting extraordinarily ripe for this kind of turn to happen.”