The Dow Jones Industrial Average punched firmly higher on Wednesday to a historic close above 23,000. It took 54 trading days for the gauge to close above the next round-number milestone, representing the third fastest 1,000-point advance in history. However, the record-setting climb for the more than 120-year old stock-market average might hint at some softness. That is because the Dow’s DJIA, +0.70% close above 23,000 marks the first time it has taken more than one try to finish above a psychologically significant round-number level since the benchmark took three turns to end above 16,000 back in November 2013, according to research from WSJ Market Group Data (see chart below): Of course, the strength of Wednesday’s rally may suggest that the Dow industrials may have further to room to run, but an inability to close the deal Tuesday may suggest that the upward momentum that has taken investors to repeated all-time highs may be waning—at least somewhat. After hitting 16,000, it took the Dow 153 trading days to get to 17,000 in July of 2014.via