The dot-com bubble was 17 years ago, and after that many years, the S&P 500 information technology index finally recovered from the implosion.
The index .SPLRCT of over 60 of the U.S. largest technology companies rose 0.6 percent to close at a record high of 992.29, edging above its previous peak of 988.49, set on March 27, 2000. What this means, technology stocks is now higher than during the dotcom boom.
It was the ninth straight session of gains for the sector that has led the market in 2017 with a 22 percent rise, fueled by rallies in a handful of heavyweight technology companies, including Apple, Alphabet (Google), Facebook, Microsoft and Nvidia.
They have grown more valuable than most other public companies around the world.
The S&P 500 and NASDAQ also hit fresh all-time highs on as shares of Amazon and Adobe traded at highs not seen since their IPOs.
Tech stocks in the S&P 500 index trade at a price/earnings ratio of 18.4, according to FactSet, based on projected sector profits in the coming 12 months. That means tech is now trading at a 28 percent premium to tech companies' valuations over the past decade.
In the 17 intervening years, tech shares had lost as much as 80 percent of their value before beginning the slow ascent back to the top of the market. That slow recovery highlights how long it can take stocks to come back from investors and bubbles like the tech bubble, which burst in 2000, or the housing bubble that began to burst in 2007.
The S&P 500 tech index in June traded as high as 19 times expected earnings, its highest since the 2007 before the U.S. financial crisis. But even as it hit a record high on Wednesday, the S&P 500 information technology index is cheaper compared to the dot-com era. At the index's previous peak in 2000, its valuation was equal to 48 times expected earnings.