The highest high and lowest low for the selected period are also bolded for easy identification. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq rebounded 1.1% and 1.3% on Friday, respectively, after both indexes posted their worst trading days since late April. See the top 10 highest closing values in Dow Jones history, including the record-breaking 45,014.04 set on December 4, 2024. When people talk about “the Dow,” they mean the Dow Jones Industrial Average—a group of top blue-chip stocks like Apple, Microsoft, and Coca-Cola, all traded on big U.S. exchanges like the NYSE. The DJIA shows how America’s biggest companies are performing and is a quick way to check the pulse of the economy. Different indices reflect different trading styles, short-term Nasdaq rallies mirror day trading vs swing trading strategies in practice.
Top 5 Dow Jones All-Time Closing Highs (2021–
Record highs usually follow strong earnings, low interest rates, tech rallies, and economic growth. Central bank policy and investor optimism also play big roles. On that day, it closed at 7,286.27, a 37.8% decline from its peak. No one knew if a new bull market had begun until the Dow hit a higher low on March 11, 2003, closing at 7,524.06. The Dow Jones Industrial Average is one of the many gauges of stock market performance. This history of the Dow since the Great Depression demonstrates how stock market fluctuations reflect the natural stages of the business cycle.
- The largest single-day drop, percentage-wise, that the Dow has had occurred when the market crashed on Oct. 19, 1987, Black Monday.
- High and Low prices and the date of their trades are shown, along with the Percent Change from the start of the current period’s High and Low price.
- 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).
What Is the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) All-Time High?
The Dow tracks 30 large, publicly owned blue-chip companies trading on the New York Stock Exchange and the Nasdaq. The selection is not based on strict quantitative criteria but rather on the decisions of the editors of the Wall Street Journal. Companies are chosen based on their reputation, growth, and relevance to the economy, with the aim of reflecting the overall health and trends of the industrial sector of the U.S. economy. The Dow also lost 26.5% during the Cuban missile crisis of 1962. It hit an all-time high of 34,200.67 points on Apr. 16, 2021. In the autumn, it began to consistently close above 35,000 points, and by the last week in December 2021, it surpassed 36,000 points.
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. While there are always pullbacks, the Dow has set new records after every major correction for over 100 years. 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.
Record Highs Set in 2018
These funds track the DJIA through a similar composition and weighting of stocks. The largest single-day drop, percentage-wise, that the Dow has had occurred when the market crashed on Oct. 19, 1987, Black Monday. Many records were set in 2019, thanks partly to trade talks with China that boosted firms in the index. The longest bull market in history lasted about 11 years, starting in March 2009 and ending in February 2020.
Record Highs Set in 2021
The highest closing value ever for the Dow is 45,631.74, set on August 22, 2025.
- 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.
- It’s one of the most-watched indicators of the stock market’s overall health.
- It took almost four years for the market to bottom out at that time.
By the end of 2023, the previous high, registered in January 2022, had been surpassed, and the 37,000 mark had been breached. While short-term pullbacks are always possible, history shows the Dow has reached new highs after every major correction. With inflation cooling and the Fed signaling possible rate cuts, analysts expect more record-setting moves through late 2025. For active traders, record-breaking markets are full of opportunity. At MasterFunders, you can trade with firm capital instead of your own, scale accounts up to $1M+, and get payouts in as little as 7 days. The Dow’s new high above 45,600 in August 2025 is impressive, but it’s part of a bigger global rally.
The S&P 500, Nasdaq, Nikkei, and DAX all set records in 2025 too, fueled by strong tech earnings and hopes of lower rates. By mid-2025, the S&P 500 reached 5,680, and the Nasdaq hit 19,810—driven mainly by tech stocks. 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 2008 stock market crash was more dramatic than any other downturn in U.S. history.
The Senate reintroduced the bailout as the Troubled Asset Relief Program on Oct. 3. The Dow gained 3,472.56 points during 2013, higher than any prior year on record. For each period, the «Percent From Last» column shows you where the current price is in relationship to the Low price for that period. When positive, the current price is that much higher than the lowest price from that period.
It hit a milestone on July 11, closing above 27,000, and then another on Nov. 15, closing above 28,000 (in the chart below, milestones are noted). The Dow Jones Industrial Average (the Dow) is an index of the 30 top-performing U.S. companies. The most recent all-time-high record (as of this writing) was on Jan. 4, 2022, when it closed at 36,799.65. Shows historical Highs and Lows for a number of periods, based on your selected view. High and Low prices and the date of their trades are shown, along with the Percent Change from the start of the current period’s High and Low price. For the period selected at the top right of the page, you will see the Date, Open, High, Low, Last, Change, Change Percent, and Volume for the current trading session plus the previous 4 sessions.
When negative, the current price is that much lower than the lowest price reported for the period. For each period, the «Percent From Last» column shows you where the current price is in relationship to the High price for that period. When negative, the current price is that much lower than the highest price reported for the period. When positive, the current price is that much higher than the highest price from that period.
For long-term investors, these milestones are reminders to stay disciplined. 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 Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) just set a new record close of 45,631.74 on August 22, 2025. This beat the previous high of 45,014.04 from December 2024. The easiest way to invest in the Dow may be to buy shares in State Street Global Advisors’ SPDR Dow Jones Industrial Average ETF Trust, which trades under the ticker symbol DIA. This widget shows the number of times this symbol reached a new low price for specific periods, from the past 5-Days to the past 20-Years. This widget shows the number of times this symbol reached a new high price for specific periods, from the past 5-Days to the past 20-Years.
A Brief History of the Dow
The Dow’s new record above 45,600 in August 2025 comes from a mix of strong earnings, cooling inflation, and investor optimism about future Fed policy. The index closed above 18,000 on Dec. 23, and then closed its high for the year at 18,053.71 on Dec. 26. The chart below shows four of those closing records, as they increase by the thousand.
Since the Dow tracks just 30 large-cap U.S. companies, some critics argue that it is too narrow to represent the state of the overall U.S. economy. Given its large-cap focus, the roster of companies included in the Dow fails to include companies of other sizes. Many market observers think the S&P 500 is a much better representation of the economy, as it includes 500 companies and draws more widely from different sectors. These changes are not done often to ensure the index’s stability and continuity. Since the Great Depression, 2007 to 2008 has been the most dramatic period for the DJIA. 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.
The highest intraday level was just above 45,100 on December 4, 2024, before closing at 45,014.04. The downturn reflected a 10-month recession, from July 1953 to May 1954, during the military demobilization following the Korean War. It beat its January high, rising to 9,093.24 by the close of the day.
The Dow’s activity broke Divergencias new records in terms of downward movement in 2009. While it wasn’t as dramatic as the Great Depression, the drop happened much more quickly. After recovering from its Great Depression level, the Dow continued to be affected by several recessionary periods and crises leading up to the 2009 downturn. A November streak occurred after Donald Trump’s presidential win on Nov. 8. Traders were confident in a business-friendly Republican president. The Dow responded with new highs throughout the latter part of 2019, even though trade negotiations had broken down until November.