Stocks rallied on Thursday as the possibility of the Senate passing a bill aimed at overhauling the U.S. tax code increased. The Dow Jones industrial average surged 331.67 points to close above 24,000 for the first time, with United Technologies leading advancers on the 30-stock index. The advanced 0.8 percent to close at 2,647.58 — an all-time high — with industrials and information technology among the best-performing sectors. L Brands and Kroger were the best-performing stocks in the index. The Nasdaq composite rose 0.7 percent to close at 6,873.97, rebounding from a 2 percent decline in the previous session. Tech giants like Facebook, Amazon, and Apple all traded higher.

Major U.S. Indexes

"This tax-reform bill is not just about" potentially lowering taxes said JJ Kinahan, chief market strategist at TD Ameritrade. "It's also a psychological factor that Congress can get something done. That would be a positive." Sen. John McCain said Thursday he would support the bill, making it more likely that the GOP-led Senate will pass its bill. The Senate is expected to vote later on Thursday. If the upper chamber's bill passes, the House and Senate would have to work on a new bill they can send to President Donald Trump. Tax reform was one of Trump's main talking points during his campaign last year. After he won, expectations of lower corporate taxes grew in the stock market, helping equities jump to record highs. But Jack Ablin, chief investment officer at BMO Private Bank, said lower corporate taxes may not help as much as investors may think. "The effective tax rate among S&P 500 companies is already 26 percent. A 20 percent corporate tax rate would help, but it would not be as big a boon to large companies as it would be to small companies," he said.

Traders celebrate on the main trading floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) as the Dow Jones Industrial Average passes the 20,000 mark shortly after the opening of the trading session in New York, U.S., January 25, 2017. Brendan McDermid | Reuters