Why the Dow is Finally Beating the NasdaqThe Dow Picks Up Steam. It's Near Its Record Close.Last Updated:Updated 11 min agoWhy the Dow is Finally Beating the NasdaqThe Nasdaq Composite's furious rally to fresh highs has hit the brakes, but the Dow is picking up the torch.The blue-chip index rose 260 points, or 0.6%, and was only a few hundred points off its Dec. 4 record close of 45,014.04. The Nasdaq was flat, and struggling to gain momentum. The S&P 500 was up 0.2%.The Dow was winning because of its relative lack of exposure to the tech and communication services sectors, which were both down 0.2%.