美国有线新闻 CNN 美股再创新高 道指首次突破25000点（在线收听）

AZUZ: Including General Electric, there are now 30 stocks listed in the Dow. They're called Blue Chips, stocks from companies that are financially strong and considered good investments. The Dow Jones average is one indication how the U.S. economy is doing and it hit a milestone last week. It passed 25,000 points.

But it's not just the Dow's new high mark that made news. It's the speed at which the index reached the record. For the Dow to go from 5,000 points to 10,000, which it did back in the 1990s, it took more than three years. The index just jumped from 20,000 points from 25,000 in less than 12 months. Analysts say this is because the U.S. economy is growing faster and that companies profits are high.

Some economists say it's possible for the economy to overheat, to grow too fast and cause inflation, when prices rise and people ar??en't able to buy as much. That could trigger a series of actions that could reverse economic growth.

Others say there's still plenty of room for the economy to grow without overheating. And if it does that, it's anyone's guess how high the Dow can go.

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN CHIEF BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: The most impressive milestone yet for the Dow Jones Industrial Average: 25,000. It's a psychological mark but shows the explosive growth in stocks over the past year.

The blue chips first hit 20,000 on January 6th, 2017. By March, the Dow nailed 21,000. In early August, 22,000. In October, 23,000. Just 30 trading days after that mark, 24,000.

Two key developments driving this 8-year-old bull market ever higher:

First, President Trump's big push on tax reform. Investors cheered as Congress delivered a bill to the president's desk before Christmas.

Corporations are a big winner and Wall Street is betting companies will use their new spare cash to buy back stock and beef up their dividends.

Second, corporate profits. Companies are making money and investors are optimistic about the future, so optimistic it seems nothing can stop this rally, not a growing nuclear threat from North Korea, not the Russia investigation, not a series of interest rate hikes.

Dow 25,000 is here. The question now, can Dow 30,000 be far behind?