Dow Jones hits 50,000 milestone amid tech gains and hopes of lower interest rates

The Dow Jones Industrial Average crossed 50,000 for the first time, as ballooning tech valuations, robust corporate earnings and hopes of lower interest rates drive it to new highs.Chart of the Dow Jones Industrial Average’s performance over the past yearLeading stock markets on Wall Street came under pressure earlier this week as technology stocks fell amid scrutiny of extraordinary levels of investment into artificial intelligence.Cryptocurrencies including Bitcoin have also suffered sharp falls in recent days, although they recovered some lost ground on Friday.But US equities have been rallying for months as investors largely shrugged off geopolitical tensions and grew increasingly optimistic about the economy.The Dow closed at 50,015.67 on Friday in New York, up 2.3% on the day. The benchmark S&P 500 rose 2%, while the technology-focused Nasdaq Composite rose 2.2%.Donald Trump has repeatedly hailed the record stock market highs, and tried to claim the market climb as evidence of the success of US tariffs – his central economic policy – which have soared to their highest effective level since 1935 on his watch.“THANK YOU YOU MISTER TARIFF!!!” the US president wrote on social media last month, after the Dow and S&P closed at fresh all-time highs. He claimed: “BOTH OUR NATIONAL AND FINANCIAL SECURITY HAVE NEVER BEEN STRONGER!”Many investors have largely shrugged off Trump’s aggressive trade strategy, and threatens to impose even steeper tariffs on US economic allies and foes alike. The so-called “Taco” trade – Trump Always Chickens Out – made headlines last year, much to the president’s chagrin.Leading chip manufacturers at the heart of the AI boom have helped drive the stock market rally, despite fears of a bubble.Jensen Huang, the Nvidia CEO and president, claimed on the financial news network CNBC that demand for AI remained “incredibly high”, and that the level of spending was appropriate and sustainable. Shares in Nvidia – the world’s largest publicly listed company, with a market valuation of $4.5tn – rose 7.9% on Friday.While Nvidia was the best performer of the day among the Dow’s 30 stocks, the worst was Amazon. Shares in the tech giant sank 5.6% after it disclosed plans to spend $200bn on AI and robotics this year, unnerving investors.