DOW 28,000!

Stocks moved higher Friday pushing the Dow Jones Industrial Average to 28,000 and beyond for the first time ever.

The Dow moved up 223 points, or eight-tenths of a percentage point, to close at an all-time high of 28,004. This marks the fourth week in a row in which the Dow has advanced.

The S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite also rose to new highs. The S&P rose 0.77 percent and the Nasdaq 0.73 percent.

Investors seem unconcerned with the impeachment hearing drama that has engulphed the nation’s capitol. Wall Street’s view is that the chances of the proceedings leading to the removal of Donald Trump from the White House approximate zero.

“The markets see the impeachment process as a pure political ploy. So the metaphor is Clinton, not Nixon. Hence no market reaction to impeachment proceedings. So far, this is not a Nixon type story. If evidence surfaces to a smoking gun level like the Nixon 18 ½ minute gap in a tape, then things change,” David Kotok of Cumberland Advisors told Politico, pretty well-encapsulating the consensus on Wall Street.

Recession talk is a thing of the past. And the market is far less dependent on hopes for further rate cuts, rallying on Wednesday even after Fed chair Powell made it clear that no rate cuts are in the offing. Even reports that China trade talks had hit a snag seem no longer to weigh on stocks as they once did.