Nasdaq closes above 5,000 for 1st time in 15 years

The Nasdaq finished above 5,000 Monday for the first time in 15 years, capping a long-running recovery in the exchange after the dot-com bubble burst spectacularly in 2000. The tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index jumped 44.57 points (0.90 percent) to 5,008.10, finishing above 5,000 for only the third time in its history. Both the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the S&P 500 struck new records as well, as US markets marched ahead in a six-year bull run. The Dow rose 155.93 (0.86 percent) to 18,288.63, while the broad-based S&P advanced 12.89 (0.61 percent) to 2,117.39. "It's an exciting day for the Nasdaq," said Peter Cardillo, chief market economist at Rockwell Global Capital. "After 15 years, new records are here, but this time on a solid basis." The Nasdaq is still about 40 points below its all-time closing high of 5,048.62, on March 10, 2000. Monday's gains came on a stream of merger announcements, including the $16.7 billion acquisition of Freescale Semiconductor by NXP Semiconductor, in a deal that links two Nasdaq companies. NXP jumped 17.3 percent, while Freescale rose 11.8 percent. The gains were spread well among other Nasdaq tech titans: Intel (+2.4 percent) and Cisco Systems and Google (both +2.3 percent). Apple, the biggest US company by market capitalization, rose 0.5 percent. Biogen, part of the Nasdaq's wave of biotech companies, gained 1.5 percent, while Facebook, the social networking giant, added 1.0 percent. Monday's torrid trade followed a buoyant February for US stocks thanks to improving economic data, solid corporate earnings and continued central bank liquidity. Tesla Motors was one of the few prominent Nasdaq companies to falter, losing 3.0 percent on negative analyst reports. "Things are far from rosy," said a note from Barclays that pointed to higher-than-expected capital spending, among other issues. Dow component Visa gained 2.6 percent as Costco Wholesale announced Visa and Citigroup will be the exclusive issuer of the big-box chain's branded credit cards, replacing American Express. Costco rose 0.7 percent, while Citi added 2.0 percent. Aruba Networks, which specializes in information technology for wireless networks, dropped 0.6 percent on news it will be acquired by tech giant Hewlett-Packard in a $3 billion deal. HP rose 0.2 percent. Bond prices fell. The yield on the 10-year US Treasury rose to 2.08 percent from 1.99 percent Friday, while the 30-year advanced to 2.67 percent from 2.60 percent. Bond prices and yields move inversely.