NEW YORK -- The Dow Jones industrial average shot above 8,900 for the first time today, with a rally in blue-chip stocks pushing the Dow to its fifth-straight record close. Dow rises 103 to top 8,900
The Dow rose 103.38 points at 8,906.43, ending the week with a gain of more than 300 points.
Advancers led decliners by a 4-to-3 margin on the New York Stock Exchange, with 1,689 up, 1,262 down and 552 unchanged. NYSE volume was 709.75 million shares, vs. 585.69 million yesterday.
Broad-market indexes were mostly higher at the close, except for the Nasdaq composite index which was weighed down by weakness in technology stocks.
The Standard & Poor's 500-stock list rose 9.42 to 1,099.16, and the NYSE composite index rose 5.23 to 572.61. The Nasdaq composite index fell 10.82 to 1,789.16. The American Stock Exchange composite index rose 0.99 to 727.79, while the Russell 2000 fell 0.05 to 474.25.
The price of the Treasury's main 30-year bond was up 1/4 point, or $2.50 per $1,000 in face value, while its yield fell to 5.88 percent from 5.89 percent late yesterday.
With no new economic news released today, investors focused on the market's recent climb. All week, investors have favored buying stocks, brushing off lingering concerns of wage inflation and lower earnings projections.
"We had a bad market in the fourth quarter, with investors worrying that the economy would slow too much or feared something even worse," said Hugh Johnson, chief investment officer at First Albany Corp. "In 1998, investors have gotten over that worry and feel more confident in this economy."
Among today's biggest gainers were tobacco stocks, following an Indiana jury's decision that the industry was not liable in the cancer death of a nonsmoking nurse exposed to secondhand smoke.