One hundred twenty-five years ago, the Dow Jones Industrial Average made its debut. The index of 12 smokestack companies closed that first trading day, May 26, 1896, at 40.94.

The Federal Reserve’s collection of bonds, cash and other holdings could reach $9 trillion by 2023, as compared to the currently level of $7.9 trillion and just over $4 trillion at the end of February last year before the coronavirus pandemic.

Year-to-date, $312 billion of registered equity offerings through IPOs, SPACs and follow-on deals came to market in the U.S. That figure exceeds the total annual average of $290 billion that came to market in the U.S. over the last decade.

Special-purpose acquisition companies (SPACs) shattered records in 2020, with 250 companies collectively raising $75.1 billion, compared with 2019, when 53 SPACs raised $11.1 billion.

Credit-card spending in the U.S. totaled nearly $3.9 trillion on general-purpose and store cards last year, down 9% from 2019.

Jobless claims fell below 500,000 last week for the first time during the pandemic as layoffs decline and hiring accelerates.

The exchange operator CME Group Inc. said it would permanently close most of its open-outcry trading pits in Chicago, ending one of the world’s last vestiges of old-fashioned floor trading. Floor trading for agricultural commodities has existed in Chicago since the mid-19th century.

Stockholdings among U.S. households increased to 41% of their total financial assets in April, the highest level on record dating back to 1952.

After 2020 saw US-domiciled ETFs gain $476 billion in net flows (inflows less outflows)—which broke the annual record of $470 billion set in 2017—they accumulated nearly $248 billion in Q1 this year.

The consumer confidence index increased to 121.7 in April from a revised 109.0 in March. Recent improvements led the index to a more than one-year high, with the indicator approaching the pre-pandemic level of 132.6 in February 2020.