SPDR Dow Jones Industrial Average ETF (NYSEArca: DIA) rallied 1.5% on Wednesday to rise to a fresh high since the financial crisis.
The Dow soared nearly 200 points as investors shook off fears over Europe’s debt crisis and the Friday sequestration deadline in the U.S.
DIA traded as high as $140.87 a share on Wednesday. The ETF’s all-time high of $141.95 a share was recorded in October 2007.
“The housing market is proving a positive delta to the economy for this quarter and year,” David Katz, chief investment officer at Matrix Asset Advisors, said in a Bloomberg report. “The rally is driven by improvement in sentiment from Europe coupled with positive data.”
Homebuilder ETFs were higher Wednesday after a report estimating pending home sales rose nearly 5% last month. [Homebuilder ETFs Lifted by Data]
The Dow ETF was up 6.7% year to date heading into Wednesday’s rally. SPDR S&P 500 (NYSEArca: SPY) has gained 5.3% so far this year and the Nasdaq-100 PowerShares QQQ (NasdaqGM: QQQ) is up 2.2%.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average goes back to the 1890s and the 30 stocks in the index are selected by the editors of The Wall Street Journal.