Dow briefly sprints past 40,000 mark on strong earnings

(Reuters) -- The Dow Jones Industrial Average breached the 40,000-point level for the first time ever on Thursday, its fastest 10,000-point climb, powered by strong quarterly results and rising bets of interest-rate cuts by the Federal Reserve.

The blue-chip index surpassed its previous record high of 39,935.04, hit on Wednesday, and has recovered nearly 40% from its October 2022 lows. At 10:40 a.m., the Dow was up 0.2%, at 39,992.67.