Dow Closes Above 16,000 For The First Time Ever

(RTTNews) - Stocks moved notably higher over the course of the trading day on Thursday, largely offsetting the weakness seen over the past few sessions. With the strength on the day, the Dow reached a new record closing high above 16,000.

Brokerage stocks showed a substantial upward move over the course of the trading day, driving the NYSE Arca Broker/Dealer Index up by 2.2 percent. The gain extended a recent upward trend by the index, which reached its best closing level in over five years.

KCG Holdings (KCG), MarketAxess (MKTX), and Stifel Financial (SF) turned in some of the brokerage sector's best performances.

Considerable strength was also visible among biotechnology stocks, as reflected by the 2.1 percent gain posted by the NYSE Arca Biotechnology Index. With the gain, the index set a record closing high.

Semiconductor stocks also turned in a strong performance on the day, with the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index advancing by 1.7 percent. Micron (MU) helped lead the sector higher after Greenlight Capital manager David Einhorn said he is long on the stock.

Banking, networking, and housing stocks also moved notably higher, reflecting the broad based buying interest on Wall Street.

Meanwhile, gold stocks bucked the uptrend amid a decrease by the price of the precious metal. With gold for December delivery falling $14.40 to $1,243.60 an ounce, the NYSE Arca Gold Bugs Index dropped by 1.7 percent.

The major averages moved roughly sideways going into the close, hovering firmly in positive territory. The Dow climbed 109.17 points or 0.7 percent to 16,009.99, the Nasdaq jumped 47.88 points or 1.2 percent to 3,969.15 and the S&P 500 advanced 14.48 points or 0.8 percent to 1,795.85.