Dow rises to all-time high

By Matt Egan

The Dow zoomed to a record high Tuesday.

The Dow gained over 120 points and hit 18,353, surpassing the previous record set in May 2015.

It ends a 14-month period in which the markets appeared to hit a wall. They even fell precipitously at one point and flirted with a new bear market.

“This proves all the chatter about the demise of the bull market to be wrong,” said Ed Yardeni, president of investment advisory Yardeni Research.

One driver was the strong June jobs report that dramatically eased fears of a slowdown in the U.S. economy. The strong economic news sent the Dow soaring 251 points on Friday and left the S&P 500 just shy of a new closing high.

The market milestones come at a surprising time: Just two weeks ago, global markets were in freakout mode after the shocking Brexit vote. The U.K. referendum sent the Dow plummeting nearly 900 points over two days.