The Globe and Mail reports in its Saturday, Feb. 7, edition that the Dow Jones Industrial Average blew past the historic 50,000 mark on Friday. A Reuters dispatch to The Globe reports that shares of Nvidia gained 7.8 per cent and Caterpillar rose 7 per cent. Both are heavyweights in the Dow and helped the index to break to all-time highs. The blue-chip index is up 4.2 per cent for the year, outperforming other major indexes. Caterpillar has risen over 26 per cent, while Nvidia is slightly down in 2026. Bitcoin steadied on Friday after weeks of decline, rising over 10 per cent and offsetting part of Thursday's 15-per-cent drop, which had brought it significantly below its record price from October. Nvidia and other chipmakers rose, while Amazon fell 5.6 per cent after forecasting a more than 50-per-cent increase in artificial intelligence infrastructure spending. This announcement intensified the race to dominate AI technology, following a similar statement from Alphabet. Chip stocks rallied as expectations grew for increased AI data centre spending by Amazon and Alphabet. Advanced Micro Devices rose 8.3 per cent, Broadcom gained 7.1 per cent, and the PHLX semiconductor index was up 5.7 per cent.