NEW YORK -- The Dow Jones industrial average roared back above 8,000 today as Federal Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan took a nonthreatening tone in his midyear report to Congress. Dow soars 154.93
to retake 8,000The Dow rose 154.93 points to close at 8,061.65, beating last Wednesday's record high of 8,038.88, which was the blue-chip barometer's first close above 8,000.
Broad-market indicators snapped a three-session slump as interest rates fell to their lowest level of the year in the bond market following Greenspan's afternoon appearance on Capitol Hill.
Advancers led decliners by a 5-to-2 margin on the New York Stock Exchange, with 2,091 up, 847 down and 503 unchanged. NYSE volume was 579.56 million shares vs. 459.49 million yesterday.
The Standard & Poor's 500-stock list rose 20.97 to 933.91, and the NYSE index climbed 9.39 to 483.89. The Nasdaq index rose 27.64 to 1,563.87, and the American Stock Exchange composite gained 3.80 to 634.20.
The benchmark 30-year bond surged almost two full points, pushing down its yield almost 13 basis points to 6.41 percent, the lowest since Dec. 4.
Although stocks drew an early boost from some robust earnings reports by bellwether names such as Walt Disney Co. and Philip Morris Cos., trading was fairly restrained before Greenspan delivered his testimony. The Fed chairman reiterated the widespread view that inflationary pressures have remained tame, but also cautioned that the central bank stands ready to boost interest rates at the first sign of inflation.
Although few expect next month's Fed meeting to produce any such preemptive strike, investors were somewhat jittery in advance of Greenspan's remarks. In December, Greenspan triggered a steep selloff after suggesting the Fed might boost rates to temper the "irrational exuberance" in the markets, which he called an inflationary threat.