The Dow Jones industrial average tacked on 109 points Thursday for a gain of less than 1 percent. But the small rise brought a big milestone, as the industrial index closed above 16,000 for the first time in its history. The index had touched the mark earlier this week, but it fell short by the day's end.
Today, the Dow closed at 16,009.99.
The historic moment for the benchmark index that tracks 30 leading U.S. companies came on a day that began with positive economic news.
Jobless claims fell by 21,000 last week and wholesale prices fell by 0.2 percent, as Mark reported for The Two-Way earlier today.
The Treasury also said it would sell millions of shares in GM, propelling the carmaker's stock to a 1.1 percent gain, according to Bloomberg.
Investors may also have been further reassured by the Senate Banking Committee's vote to approve the nomination of Janet Yellen to be the next chief of the Federal Reserve.