IBM had a really good day, up 9 percent on a really good Q3 report, and that gave the Dow a super good day, up 160, of which 90 is credited to IBM.  With this steaming bull market, hesitant retail investors are pouring back in, balancing out the $33 billion that has been pulled out of stocks just in Q3.  Since the S&P and Nasdaq were positive, they were also at new records.  Investors await the White House decision about the next Fed chair.  The market wants Yellen to stay, Trump does not.  We’ll see who wins.  As has been the trend lately, volume was on the light side with 5.6 billion as investors await more Q3.

wed  OCTOBER 18, 2017 / 4:35 pM

Dow closes above 23,000 for first time; IBM soars

Caroline Valetkevitch

DJ: 23,157.60  +160.16     NAS: 6,624.22  +0.56       S&P: 2,561.26  +1.90      10/18

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed above 23,000 for the first time on Wednesday, driven by a jump in IBM after it hinted at a return to revenue growth.

The Dow hit 22,000 on Aug. 2, only 54 trading days earlier and roughly half the time it took the index to move from 21,000 to 22,000. This marks the fourth time this year the Dow has reached a 1,000-point milestone.

“Retail investors continue to pour into the marketplace, and with each headline about a new record, and especially round numbers like that, people tend to feel like they’re missing out and you kind of suck more people into the market,” said Ian Winer, head of equities at Wedbush Securities in Los Angeles.

“Ultimately, the only way you’re going to top is by getting everybody all in. And we’re getting close.”

Investors globally pulled $33.7 billion from U.S. equity funds during the third quarter, according to Thomson Reuters’ Lipper research unit. The funds are on course to post net outflows for the full year.

Shares of IBM (IBM.N), which beat expectations on revenue, jumped 8.9 percent and accounted for about 90 points of the day’s 160 point-gain in the blue-chip index.  Solid earnings, stronger economic growth and hopes that President Donald Trump may be able to make progress on tax cuts have helped the market rally this year.

The S&P 500 and Nasdaq also hit record closing highs.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI rose 160.16 points, or 0.7 percent, to end at 23,157.6, the S&P 500 .SPX gained 1.9 points, or 0.07 percent, to 2,561.26 and the Nasdaq Composite .IXIC added 0.56 point, or 0.01 percent, to 6,624.22. 

“Today the catalyst is clearly IBM ... which appears to have turned the corner. It gave the Dow the boost to stay over 23,000,” said Quincy Krosby, chief market strategist at Prudential Financial in Newark, New Jersey.

The Dow had briefly surpassed the all-time peak on Tuesday but closed just shy of it.

The financial index .SPSY jumped 0.6 percent, led by bank stocks recovering from recent post-earnings losses. Bullish calls by brokerages helped to support the bank shares.

Bank shares had run up ahead of recent results, which resulted in some selling following the news, Krosby said.

Investors await news on Trump’s decision on the Federal Reserve chair position. The White House said Wednesday Trump will announce his decision in the “coming days.”

Abbott (ABT.N) rose 1.3 percent after the company’s profit beat estimates on strong sales in its medical devices business.  After the bell, shares of eBay (EBAY.O) fell 4 percent following its results. 

Advancing issues outnumbered declining ones on the NYSE by a 1.09-to-1 ratio; on Nasdaq, a 1.32-to-1 ratio favored advancers.

About 5.6 billion shares changed hands on U.S. exchanges, below the 5.9 billion daily average for the past 20 trading days, according to Thomson Reuters data.