By Jessica Menton -
U.S. stocks soared Tuesday, with the blue-chip Dow Jones Industrial Average smashing the psychologically important 18,000 milestone for the first time after the U.S. economy grew at its quickest pace in over a decade last quarter.
Following Tuesday’s opening bell, the Dow, which measures the share prices of 30 large industrial companies, jumped 46.11 points, or 0.26 percent, at 18,005.55; the S&P 500 stock index, which tracks the share prices of the nation's 500 largest publicly traded companies, added 5.85 points, or 0.28 percent, at 2,084.46. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite gained 4.92 points, or 0.36 percent, at 4,785.50.
Data Tuesday revealed U.S. gross domestic product grew at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5 percent in the third quarter, the Commerce Department said in its third and final estimate Tuesday. The figure beat economists’ expectations for the U.S. economy to grow at a 4.3 percent annual pace last quarter, according to analysts polled by Thomson Reuters.