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Louis Jacobson
By Louis Jacobson January 8, 2018

Is Donald Trump right that the Dow Jones just had its fastest-ever 1,000-point jump?

In the wake of the Dow Jones Industrial Average reaching the 25,000-point landmark, President Donald Trump took to Twitter to tout a new record.

"Dow goes from 18,589 on November 9, 2016, to 25,075 today, for a new all-time Record. Jumped 1000 points in last 5 weeks, Record fastest 1000 point move in history. This is all about the Make America Great Again agenda! Jobs, Jobs, Jobs. Six trillion dollars in value created!" he tweeted.

We wondered whether Trump was accurate that the Dow’s 1,000-point move in five weeks was a jump of record proportions.

He’s right.

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Here’s a table summarizing every time the Dow has crossed a 1,000-level threshold for the first time since its establishment as a stock-measurement statistic in 1896. The chart below only includes the first time the Dow crossed a threshold; in many cases, the market closed below that level before climbing above it permanently.

 

First finish above...

Date of milestone

1,000

Nov. 14, 1972

2,000

Jan. 8, 1987

3,000

April 17, 1991

4,000

Feb. 23, 1995

5,000

Nov. 21, 1995

6,000

Oct. 14, 1996

7,000

Feb. 13, 1997

8,000

July 16, 1997

9,000

Apr. 6, 1998

10,000

Mar. 29, 1999

11,000

May 3, 1999

12,000

Oct. 19, 2006

13,000

Apr. 25, 2007

14,000

July 19, 2007

15,000

May 7, 2013

16,000

Featured Fact-check

Nov. 21, 2013

17,000

July 3, 2014

18,000

Dec. 23, 2014

19,000

Nov. 22, 2016

20,000

Jan. 25, 2017

21,000

Mar. 1, 2017

22,000

Aug. 2, 2017

23,000

Oct. 18, 2017

24,000

Nov. 30, 2017

25,000

Jan. 4, 2018

 

The most recent climb to 25,000 is a record, after you exclude weekends and holidays and include only trading days. The climb from 24,000 to 25,000 took 24 trading days. That is one day shorter than the two previous fastest climbs of 25 trading days — from 10,000 to 11,000 under President Bill Clinton in 1999, and from 20,000 to 21,000 earlier in Trump’s own presidency.

With each 1,000-level increase, the accomplishment is a little less impressive.

A jump of 1,000 from 24,000 to 25,000 is an increase of just 4 percent in value. By comparison, jumping from 1,000 to 2,000 — which took more than 14 years — is an increase of 100 percent in value.

Our ruling

Trump said the Dow Jones Industrial Average "jumped 1000 points in last 5 weeks, Record fastest 1000 point move in history."

He’s correct about the size of the climb and the fact that it’s the fastest in history, at least when you tally up trading days. The rise to 25,000 beat the old record by one trading day.

We rate the statement True.

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The Dow Jones Industrial Average "jumped 1000 points in last 5 weeks, Record fastest 1000 point move in history."
a tweet
Friday, January 5, 2018

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