US open: Dow hits 20,000 mark for the first time

US equity markets were on the front foot on Wednesday as the Dow hit the 20,000 mark for the first time, while investors eyed a deluge of earnings.

Markets extended Tuesday's gains after the Nasdaq and the S&P 500 closed at all-time highs.

The Dow opened above 20,000 after President Donald Trump approved controversial infrastructure projects, including the Keystone XL and Dakota Access pipelines on Tuesday, raising expectations of increased spending for the sector. The blue-chip index has risen 10% since the election in November.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.67% to 20,045.55, the S&P 500 rose 0.58% to 2,293.25, and the Nasdaq increased 0.71% to 5,640.71 at 1515 GMT.

Neil Wilson, senior market analysts at ETX Capital, said: “The Dow has capped a remarkable rally since Donald Trump’s election by finally breaking the 20,000 level. It’s psychologically huge and, after a bit of pullback ahead of the inauguration, really confirms that the ‘great rotation' from bonds to stocks is definitely upon us. Fears about protectionism are running second to optimism about inflation and growth – for now at least.

“Trump’s election victory, far from roiling markets, has been greeted with universal optimism about what it means for global growth. Something like $3trn has been pulled from bonds and $3trn pumped into equities. President Trump is bound to take credit for the rally, and he may well be justified to some degree… The question now is how long can this last?”

Wilson said the rally could mean, either “Trump will usher in a Reaganesque shift in the US economy, fuelling a massive reallocation of investment from cash to productive capital”, or that it is “a massive bubble, irrational exuberance of the worst kind that will come unstuck when Trump fails to deliver the reflationary policies that the market is pinning its hopes on”.

Meanwhile, oil prices pushed lower as market participants awaited the latest data from the Energy Information Administration later in the day.

Brent crude was down 0.7% to $55.05 a barrel and West Texas Intermediate was 0.52% weaker to $52.90.

In currency markets, the dollar was flat against the euro to 0.9316, down 0.56% versus the pound to 0.7942, and declined 0.09% against the yen to 113.69.

Elsewhere, investors are sifting through a slate of earnings.

Boeing was up 3.11% as the airplane maker beat earnings expectations for the fourth quarter and said that it will deliver more aircrafts in 2017, but revenue could fall.

Whereas United Technologies was down 2.06% after the jet-engine and building-systems manufacturer reported that fourth quarter profit fell but kept its outlook unchanged.

Miner Freeport-McMoran declined 2.7% after missing fourth quarter expectations but gold sales doubled.

Aluminium giant Alcoa gained 2.51% after its quarterly revenue late on Tuesday beat estimates and the company sounded an upbeat note on aluminium demand for this year.

Texas Instruments nudged up 1.23% after posting a jump in fourth-quarter profit and sales also late on Tuesday.

AT&T, Ebay and Qualcomm will publish earnings after the close.