Dow Claws Way to Record

Updated from 4:20 p.m. EDT

The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at a new all-time high Wednesday, as component stocks JPMorgan Chase (JPM Quote - Cramer on JPM - Stock Picks) and United Technologies (UTX Quote - Cramer on UTX - Stock Picks) ran up after their latest quarterly earnings reports.

The Dow rose 30.80 points, or 0.24%, to 12,803.84, and exceeded its old best-ever finish of 12,786.64 set on Feb. 20. Still, of the 30 members of the index, only 11 finished with gains.

Meanwhile, the Nasdaq was hit by a slump in Internet heavyweight Yahoo! (YHOO Quote - Cramer on YHOO - Stock Picks) and fell 6.45 points, or 0.26%, to 2510.50. Yahoo! disappointed investors with its earnings report after the previous close, and its shares dropped 11.8% to close at $28.31.

The S&P 500 was higher by 1.02 points, or 0.07%, to close at 1472.50.

"Obviously, the market continued to focus on the good news, which is the strong earnings so far," said Peter Cardillo, chief market economist with Avalon Partners. "The market is ignoring some of the negatives, such as the price of oil and the falling dollar. Somewhere along the line, we'll start to reflect on the negatives, but for now the mood is strong."

Despite the losses suffered on Feb. 27, when a benchmark index in mainland China sank more than 9% and pressured U.S. markets, the major indices are higher for the year. Thus far, the Dow has added 2.7%, the S&P 500 has risen 3.8%, and the Nasdaq has pieced together a gain of 3.9%.