On what date did the S&P 500 index first close above 4,000?

The S&P 500 first closed above 4,000 on April 1, 2021, ending the session at 4,019.87.

The milestone came during the powerful market recovery that followed the sharp COVID-19-related sell-off of early 2020. The index had closed at 3,386.15 on February 19, 2020, before plunging into a bear market as the pandemic spread. It reached its 2020 low on March 23, then advanced as monetary support, vaccine progress and economic-reopening expectations strengthened investor sentiment.

The S&P 500 had already crossed several major thresholds during the rebound: 3,000 in July 2019, 3,500 in August 2020 and 3,900 in February 2021. Its first close above 4,000 was a closing milestone, not merely an intraday touch. The index continued setting records later in 2021 and finished that year with a gain of nearly 27 percent.

The S&P 500 is a market-capitalization-weighted index tracking 500 large U.S. companies. Its numerical level is an index value, not a dollar price or the total value of the companies it represents.