17,000. the blue chip average, a and p and dow transports closed at historic highs on the heels of strong manufacturing activity data both in the u.s. and in china. the rally was led by gains in health care, technology and consumer discretionary stocks that lagged recently. here is how the major averages ended with dow up 129 points making the biggest gain since may 21st and came within two points of the 17,000 mark around midday before giving up early gains. the nasdaq was the strongest of the major averages up 50 points, reaching a fresh 14-year high and the s&p was up 13 notching its 23rd record close of the year. so with the dow at 17,000 now in the cross hairs and the markets at new highs at the mid point of this year, a lot of traders are thinking about redoing portfolios looking to maximize profits ahead of the second half of the year. dominic chu has more. reporter: many traders are taking advantage of this half time to make adjustments to portfolios. certain parts
17,000. the blue chip average, a and p and dow transports closed at historic highs on the heels of strong manufacturing activity data both in the u.s. and in china. the rally was led by gains in health care, technology and consumer discretionary stocks that lagged recently. here is how the major averages ended with dow up 129 points making the biggest gain since may 21st and came within two points of the 17,000 mark around midday before giving up early gains. the nasdaq was the strongest of the major averages up 50 points, reaching a fresh 14-year high and the s&p was up 13 notching its 23rd record close of the year. so with the dow at 17,000 now in the cross hairs and the markets at new highs at the mid point of this year, a lot of traders are thinking about redoing portfolios looking to maximize profits ahead of the second half of the year. dominic chu has more. reporter: many traders are taking advantage of this half time to make adjustments to portfolios. certain parts
17,000. the blue chip average, a and p and dow transports closed at historic highs on the heels of strong manufacturing activity data both in the u.s. and in china. the rally was led by gains in health care, technology and consumer discretionary stocks that lagged recently. here is how the major averages ended with dow up 129 points making the biggest gain since may 21st and came within two points of the 17,000 mark around midday before giving up early gains. the nasdaq was the strongest of the major averages up 50 points, reaching a fresh 14-year high and the s&p was up 13 notching its 23rd record close of the year. so with the dow at 17,000 now in the cross hairs and the markets at new highs at the mid point of this year, a lot of traders are thinking about redoing portfolios looking to maximize profits ahead of the second half of the year. dominic chu has more. reporter: many traders are taking advantage of this half time to make adjustments to portfolios. certain parts
historic highs on the heels of strong manufacturing activity data both in the u.s. and in china. the rally was led by gains in health care, technology and consumer discretionary stocks that lagged recently. here is how the major averages ended with dow up 129 points making the biggest gain since may 21st and came within two points of the 17,000 mark around midday before giving up early gains. the nasdaq was the strongest of the major averages up 50 points, reaching a fresh 14-year high and the s&p was up 13 notching its 23rd record close of the year. so with the dow at 17,000 now in the cross hairs and the markets at new highs at the mid point of this year, a lot of traders are thinking about redoing portfolios looking to maximize profits ahead of the second half of the year. dominic chu has more. reporter: many traders are taking advantage of this half time to make adjustments to portfolios. certain parts of the stock market fueled the ride, especially in the second half o
gains despite low trading volume, struggling economies in europe and deepening troubles in ukraine and the middle east. on this final trading day of the month, the dow added almost 19 points, the nasdaq rose 22 and s&p up 6.5 closing at 2003 and by the way, tomorrow will be the 2000th calendar day since the bull market began on march 9th of 2009. what a month august has been. the dow is up 3%, nasdaq posted a gain of 4 pblt 8% and the s&p hirer by more than 3.5%. only february posted higher gains for those big indexes. so why do the markets keep rising in spite of the headline risks? and what are investors looking forward to in september? bob takes a look. reporter: despite turmoil in the mideast and ukraine, what could derail the rally. the market is up because of continuing low interest rates. secondly, the low commodity prices like oil. third, a slowly improving economy. fourth, we have record earnings and finally, the u.s. is still the best place to put money. next, wha