STX Seagate Technology Holdings PLC

By Aaron Kuriloff and Corrie Driebusch 

The Dow Jones Industrial Average hit 20000 for the first time, the latest milestone in the U.S. stock market's postelection rally.

If the blue-chip index of 30 stocks closes above the mark Wednesday, it will be the second-fastest thousand-point gain after it took 24 trading days to climb from 10000 to 11000 during the dot-com boom in 1999.

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The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 98 points, or 0.5%, to 20010 early Wednesday. The S&P 500 added 0.5% and the Nasdaq Composite climbed 0.6%.

The Dow industrials have soared since Election Day, buoyed by investors' bets that the administration of President Donald Trump will pursue policies such as tax cuts, regulatory rollbacks and infrastructure spending that could improve the outlook for U.S. companies. The index has risen roughly 9% since Nov. 8, notching several highs, and closed above 19000 for the first time ever Nov. 22.

The gains also came as earnings from companies including banks highlighted improving corporate profits and ongoing U.S. economic growth. Shares of Boeing rose 2.2% Wednesday after the aerospace company beat expectations for earnings in the final quarter of the year.

Caterpillar, which makes construction and mining equipment, rose 1.3%, while J.P. Morgan Chase added 0.9% and Goldman Sachs gained 0.4% to push its postelection climb to roughly 29%. The KBW Nasdaq Bank Index of large U.S commercial lenders has gained about 23% since Election Day.

Investors' surge into mining and manufacturing companies pushed the index toward the milestone Tuesday, as some bet that Mr. Trump's moves to revive oil-pipeline projects and cut regulations signaled the first steps toward clearing the way for a surge in infrastructure spending.

Haven assets were under pressure, with selling in government bonds sending the yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note to 2.504%, according to Tradeweb, from 2.471% after its biggest daily rise of 2017. Gold fell 1.1% to $1,197.60 an ounce.

The WSJ Dollar Index, which measures the U.S. currency against 16 others, was little changed.

"On the one hand, it's great we're hitting all-time highs," said Brett Mock, managing director at brokerage JonesTrading Institutional Services LLC, referring to how major U.S. stock indexes are trading around records. "But skeptics will say if we're in record territory, how much further can we go? Are we seeing a top forming? Obviously no one knows the answer to that."

--Riva Gold contributed to this article.

Write to Aaron Kuriloff at aaron.kuriloff@wsj.com and Corrie Driebusch at corrie.driebusch@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

January 25, 2017 10:23 ET (15:23 GMT)

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