HP drags down Dow Jones industrial average

Tech giant Hewlett Packard dragged the Dow Jones industrial average lower in early trading Tuesday.

When the trading day ended on Tuesday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at a record high of 14,253.77. It surpassed the index’s previous closing high of 14,164.53 reached back in the pre-recession days of October 2007. For all the headlines devoted to the event, you’d think this was a really big deal — either a signal that our economy has zoomed past the lingering aftereffects of the Great Recession, or evidence of a bubble about to pop, as CNBC wondered a little while ago. The reality is probably much less exciting.

When the trading day ended on Tuesday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at a record high of 14,253.77. It surpassed the index’s previous closing high of 14,164.53 reached back in the pre-recession days of October 2007. For all the headlines devoted to the event, you’d think this was a really big deal — either a signal that our economy has zoomed past the lingering aftereffects of the Great Recession, or evidence of a bubble about to pop, as CNBC wondered a little while ago. The reality is probably much less exciting.

Frederic Ruffy submits: