One of the U.S. stock markets best performing indexes reached a new psychologically significant mark on Thursday, as the major indexes head to year end with the best gains in years.
The technology-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index COMP, +0.61%[1], hit 9,000 for the first time ever on Thursday.
Its recent climb reflects gains for growth stocks, including Microsoft MSFT, +0.55%[2] and Apple Inc. AAPL, +1.47%[3], which have helped to buoy the broader market also.
The Nasdaq climbed to 8,000 at the close on Aug. 27, 2018 and gains from some of the tech behemoths have helped the index to generate a return of 35.7% so far this year.
Shares of Microsoft have gained more than 44% since August of 2018, while those for Apple Inc. have gained 32.4% over the same period.
If the Nasdaq finishes above 9,000 on Thursday, it will have taken 335 trading days to gain a 1,000 points.
However, the Nasdaq’s rally also benefited from a number of stocks that aren’t always associated with the stock benchmark’s outperformance.
Indeed, the tech-related companies comprising the so-called FAANG group, including Facebook ...