Aug 15 (Reuters) - The Dow Jones Industrial Average hit

an all-time intraday high on Friday, making it the last of the

three major U.S. indexes to clinch a record in Wall Street's

rally fueled by the prospect of a looser monetary policy, easing

trade tensions and upbeat corporate earnings.

The Dow surpassed the previous peak of 45,073.63

touched on December 4, helped by a jump in UnitedHealth Group ( UNH )

shares after Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway

revealed a new investment in the health insurer.

Counted among the oldest and most followed indexes, the Dow

tracks the performance of 30 U.S.-listed large-cap stocks.

The blue-chip index is price-weighted rather than

market-cap-weighted, differentiating it from indexes such as the

S&P 500, for which companies with larger market values carry the

most weight.

The Dow's gains have been propelled by a solid year-to-date

performances from Wall Street bank Goldman Sachs ( GS ), tech

giant Microsoft ( MSFT ) and industrial equipment maker

Caterpillar ( CAT ).

Chip designer and AI champion Nvidia ( NVDA ), which became

the first publicly listed company to clinch $4 trillion in

market capitalization, has also aided the Dow's rise. The stock

has gained more than 30% this year.

The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq Composite reached

all-time highs late June, thanks to renewed AI enthusiasm, hopes

of U.S. trade deals and rising bets on interest rate cuts, which

helped drive a turnaround in U.S. stocks from a sharp rout

earlier this year.

The Dow, however, has lagged in reaching record highs, as

limited exposure to AI names and the underperformance of

companies such as UnitedHealth Group ( UNH ) and Salesforce ( CRM )

restricted its overall increase.

The Dow has jumped more than 20% since hitting this year's

lowest in April when U.S. President Donald Trump announced

sweeping "reciprocal tariffs" to rebalance the global trade

order in favor of the United States.

After a series of U.S. trade agreements with the UK,

Japan, and the European Union, investors are certain that a

worst-case global recession scenario can be avoided.

Meanwhile, a weak labor market report for July prompted

traders to increase their bets on an interest rate cut as early

as September.

Trump's moves to shake up the Federal Reserve leadership

- including an interim pick for a Fed governor post and an

expanded search to replace Chair Jerome Powell next year with

someone willing to lower interest rates - have also added to

rate cut bets.