Dow makes habit of hitting 1,000-point milestones in 2017

The Dow Jones industrial average is making 1,000-point gains look easy.

The Dow closed at 24,000 for the first time Thursday, marking the fifth time in 2017 the index hit a 1,000-point milestone. After closing at 20,000 on Jan. 25, the Dow roared to 24,000 in 10 months. By comparison, the run-up from 16,000 to 20,000 took more than 3 years.

The jump from 23,000 to 24,000 took just 30 days of trading. The biggest gains went to 3M and health insurer UnitedHealth, which both reported strong third-quarter results in October. Home Depot, Wal-Mart and Apple all rose as well. But no company can take too much credit for the move. Stocks have climbed following a strong round of company earnings and signs of continued economic growth in the U.S. and abroad. Most recently, stocks have jumped as investors grew hopeful that the Republican-led effort to cut taxes is getting closer to succeeding.

For the year, the biggest movers in the Dow have been Boeing, UnitedHealth and 3M. Aerospace company Boeing has done the best by far: its stock price has soared almost 80 percent in 2017 as the global economy grows at a faster pace and the U.S. is poised to spend more money on defense.