Since he was elected, and that is why we ve seen the surge. in addition to some better-than-expected earnings. so there it is, you re looking at dow 20,000, we crossed it right at the opening bell, and we got there pretty quickly, ready to trading days, which is the second-fastest in history to that thousand point leap, take a look at some of the names that have been the best of the best since we ve seen since the election, and here s a look. goldman sachs, jpmorgan, you can see those names are up over 20%. boeing, caterpillar among the other winter spread here s a look by the minute by minute, as we crossed the dow, 20,000 right at the opening bell, we saw the futures pointing higher, it was exciting to see it. and names like google, boeing, visa, match card all hitting record highs in addition to the dow, the nasdaq, and the s&p. there s optimism going forward. by the way, president trump actually put out this tweet, take a look at this, right from the white house, saying you know
i ve got to leave it there, guys. it is an important conversation. john phillips there. thanks. still to come in the newsroom, a key american ally sends a stern message do not talk to donald trump. first, we re minutes away from the opening bell and wall street looks poised to keep the rally going. christine romans is here with more. hi, christine. investors think donald trump will cut regulations, he will cut taxes, he will be able to push through big spending on infrastructure. you have stocks across the board smashing records. here s where we stand from yesterday. the dow, nasdaq, s&p 500 and russell 2000, that s small caps stocks all hitting record highs on the same day. carol, that s the first time that s happened since 1999 and those smaller stocks, midcap stocks, very telling. those investors think donald trump is going to roll back regulations and he has promised for every new regulation in government to cut two. take a look at global markets here.
States. many big economies such as asia and europe are struggling. all of this obviously is bad for stocks for the short-term, but great for consumers this christmas. that s right, the big winners in the market this week were retail stocks, many big names like macy s home depot and dollar general all hitting record highs. the plunge in gas prices is a huge tax cut for consumers, economists figure that every penny drop in price savings is $1 billion savings for america. retail sales are up for the past two months exactly mirroring the drop in gas prices, so an early christmas present for all of us. don t miss jerri on our sister network and if you re not sure where to find box business network in your area, just log on to fox business.com celeb channel finder.
But the american economy has been steadily recovering. the unemployment rate, consumer confidence and new home sales are all better than they ve been since 2008 and the stock market keeps hitting record highs. on the other side, the unemployment rate is skewed because there are so many people who have simply given up looking for jobs and therefore they aren t counted as the unemployed and wages just aren t rising for most americans. what to make of all this. joining me is paul krugman, the new york times columnist and nobel prize winning economist. paul, the quick take on the u.s. economy? things are getting better finally. it s not a boom and this is after many, many years of terrible performance, so relative to the way things have been for the last few years we re feeling pretty good, relative to anything anyone could have imagined, the worst downside you could have imagined seven years ago, it s terrible.
That s why i always choose the fastest intern. the fastest printer. the fastest lunch. turkey club. the fastest pencil sharpener. the fastest elevator. the fastest speed dial. the fastest office plant. so why wouldn t i choose the fastest wifi? i would. switch to comcast business internet and get the fastest wifi included. comcast business. built for business. the world may be in crisis but the american economy has been steadily recovering. the unemployment rate, consumer confidence and new home sales are all better than they ve been since 2008 and the stock market keeps hitting record highs.