RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:
NPR business news starts with markets on fire.
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MONTAGNE: Overnight, stocks in Japan and Australia hit highs not seen in more than four years. This comes after yesterday's big rally on Wall Street. The benchmark Dow Jones Industrial Average hit an all-time high. It closed at 14,253. That topped a record set in the fall of 2007, just before the financial crisis hit. This new record shows that the markets keep shrugging off what is happening or not happening in Congress.
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