[link to www.marketwatch.com]


The Dow Jones Industrial Average has crossed above 18,000 for the first time in intraday trade Tuesday, the second 1,000-point milestone it has surpassed this year.

If the blue chip barometer DJIA, +0.44% closes above 18,000, the rise from 17,000, which was first seen on a closing basis on July 3, will have taken just 120 sessions. That would make it the fifth fastest 1,000-point rise in the Dow’s history. It would also mark the sixth time that the Dow closed above 1,000-point milestones twice in one calendar year.

Of the Dow’s 30 components, the biggest contributors to the index’s latest 1,000-point gain have been the shares of Visa Inc. V, +0.37% and Goldman Sachs GS, +0.39% which have added about 308 points and 165 points, respectively, to the index’s price. The biggest weight has been the shares of International Business Machines Corp. IBM, +0.26% which have shaved off about 172 points.

So what does Dow 18,000 mean for investors?

Jason Goepfert, president of Sundial Capital Research, said he doesn’t believe the milestone has much “practical significance.” If anything, Goepfert believes the average investor’s reaction to the Dow crossing above 18,000 is likely to be one of benign acknowledgment, with a little optimism mixed in: “Yup, there it goes. It’s better than going the other way.”