How Does The Rush To Dow 20K Compare To Dow 10K?

Investors and traders hoping that the Dow Jones Industrial Average will hit the 20,000 mark in 2016 are likely to be disappointed. As of Thursday morning, the index was trading below 19,900, and there doesn't appear to be sufficient momentum to push the index higher by more than 100 points in the final two trading sessions of the year.

While some argue that Dow 20K is nothing but a nice and round number, it is still a fun exercise to take a step back and compare the run up to 20,000 to 1999's run up to 10,000.

How Much Has Changed In 17 Years

CNBC's Eric Chemi pointed out that it has now been 12 trading days since the Dow broke through the 19,900 mark but failed to reach 20,000. By contrast, it took merely two trading days for the Dow to rise from 14,900 to 15,000.

The current 12 days of "crawling" are similar to what was seen back in 1999 when it took 12 trading sessions for the Dow to rise from 9,900 to close above 10,000.

On the other hand, the push to 20,000 isn't as "dramatic" as the push to 10,000 was. Specifically, after closing at 9,997 back in 1999, the Dow went on to fall all the way down to 9,625 before staging a rebound.

"That entire round trip happened in 12 days," Chemi concluded. "So, those were much more volatile times back then. Our moves now are nothing compared to that."