Nasdaq Index Hits 5,000 For First Time Since 2000

The Nasdaq composite index returned to territory it hasn’t seen since the heyday of the dot-com boom, crossing the 5,000 mark in early trading Monday. The index hit the mark nearly 15 years to the day since it surpassed the 5,000 mark on March 9, 2000.

We’ll note that the index didn’t have far to rise from Friday’s close of 4,963.53.

Explaining today’s gain, Walter Todd, chief investment officer for Greenwood, South Carolina-based Greenwood Capital, tells Bloomberg News:

“We got some decent data this morning and with numbers out of Europe better than expected and the Chinese central bank cutting rates over the weekend, it’s a combination of those things that have us moving higher.”

For some, the 5,000 mark prompts questions about how today’s tech market differs from that of 2000.

Just five years ago, the Nasdaq was hovering around the 2,300 mark.

At the height of the bubble, CNBC reminds us today, “it was more than just smoke and mirrors. It was madness. It was Pets.com and Webvan and $5 trillion of paper wealth just waiting to evaporate. When it rapidly vanished, scores of Silicon Valley office parks were left vacant almost overnight, glutting the market with pool tables, Aeron chairs and kegs of pale ale.”

Before you go out and rent a truck to carry away similar loot this time around, CNBC adds, “it’s taken more than three years for the index to double this time around versus a few months in the dot-com days.”

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