THE DOW ZIGZAGS TOWARDS 20,000: Here's what you need to know

Brendan McDermid/Reuters

Stocks zigzagged on Tuesday, reaching higher early on, then receding, then reaching up again, and then receding once more, and, finally, picking up the pace into the close.

Ultimately, all three finished in the green.

The Dow has been hovering near the psychologically-important level of 20,000, but has yet to cross the finish line.

First up, the scoreboard:

• Dow: 19,956.63, +73.57, (+0.37%)
• S&P 500: 2,268.51, +5.98, (+0.26%)
• Nasdaq: 5,478.19, +20.66, (+0.38%)
• US 10-year yield: 2.564%, +0.024

1. Stocks rallied early on Tuesday. The financials sector led gains on the benchmark S&P 500 index. The sector has rallied since the election as investors bet that a lighter regulatory environment and higher interest rates would benefit banks. 

2. The Bank of Japan kept policy on hold, but did upgrade its assessment of the economy. "...he bigger picture is that economic conditions have started to improve recently," Capital Economics' Marcel Thieliant wrote. "We expect both headline and underlying inflation to rebound sharply in coming months. As such, we expect the Bank to leave policy settings unchanged for the foreseeable future."

3. A US industrial giant just struck a $65 billion deal, and Donald Trump is going to hate it. Linde and Praxair, two of the world's largest industrial gas companies, announced a merger on Tuesday. The combined company will have an enterprise value of $65 billion and be the biggest industrial gas company, according to a release from the companies.

4. That European vacation you've been dreaming of is about to get even cheaper. Citigroup is predicting that the US dollar could become stronger than the euro by next year, if not sooner. The dollar hasn't been stronger than the euro since 2002. Already, it takes just $1.04 to buy a euro, down from $1.15 just seven months ago.

5. Disney just became the first movie studio to earn $7 billion at the global box office in a single year. This beats last year's record-breaking year by Universal, which earned $6.89 billion globally thanks to its hits "Jurassic World," "Furious 7," and "Minions."

6. KRUGMAN: The "America we knew and loved is gone." In a series of tweets following President-elect Donald Trump's expected triumph in the Electoral College vote, Krugman seemed to be despondent with the state of the US. "So it's official, and it's vile: the loser of the popular vote installed by Russian intervention, a rogue FBI, and epic media malfunction," he tweeted.

7. Blackberry raised its outlook for the year and the stock popped. The embattled tech company posted adjusted earnings of $0.01 per share for the quarter, higher than the $0.02 per share loss expected by analysts. Shares of Blackberry were up roughly 3.75% to $8.00 per share as of 7:27 a.m. ET.

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