Dow Jones Industrial Average breaks 50,000 level for first time

By Caroline Valetkevitch and Johann M Cherian

Feb 6 (Reuters) - The Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI surged to close above the 50,000 mark for the first time on Friday, a historic moment for the blue-chip index that has outperformed its Wall Street peers this year as investors sought names beyond technology.

The index rose 1,206.95 points, or 2.47%, on Friday to finish at 50,115.67. The Dow is now up 4.3% for the year so far compared with a 1.3% gain for 2026 in the S&P 500 .SPX and a 0.9% decline for the year so far in the Nasdaq .IXIC.

Caterpillar CAT.N, which rose 7.1% to $726.20, gave the Dow its biggest boost on Friday and has helped drive the index's recent advance. Among the biggest weights in the Dow, Caterpillar is up about 27% for the year so far, and the stock gained more than 50% in 2025.

"What's driven it recently has been the broadening that we have seen in the market ... across a number of areas, other than just the tech, AI trade," said Chuck Carlson, chief executive officer at Horizon Investment Services in Hammond, Indiana.

"The Dow is kind of the people's index, and when you have a crossing of this kind of milestone, it maybe gives some folks food for thought and maybe puts a few dollars into the market," Carlson said.

The Dow led a rally in the market on Friday after a broad selloff this week tied to worries about artificial intelligence, with several software industry companies hit especially hard amid concerns that AI could create more competition.

Also helping the Dow on Friday were shares of Goldman Sachs GS.N, which rose 4.3%, and AI leader Nvidia NVDA.O. Nvidia gained 7.9% on Friday after recent losses but is down 0.6% for the year to date.

Replacing Intel's shares INTC.O with chip bellwether Nvidia in early November 2024 helped the index gain greater exposure to Wall Street's AI darling.

The Dow's 30 components are weighted in the index by their share prices, unlike S&P 500 stocks that are weighted by their market value.

The recent diversification by investors away from tech stocks has helped more economically sensitive companies such as Caterpillar, Carlson said, but he noted that Caterpillar also is benefiting from AI-related spending.

Hopes that the Federal Reserve would be able to tame inflation without damaging the economy had helped the Dow close above 40,000 points in May 2024. The U.S. central bank is expected to continue to lower interest rates in 2026.