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Dow Runs to New Record

Chris Nichols

Stocks enjoyed a solidly higher session Wednesday, albeit amid somewhat light trading action, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average surged to a new record close.

The Dow was strong all day and finished ahead by 102.94 points, or 0.8%, at 12,510.57, driven by gains of more than 2% in Alcoa (AA Quote), Citigroup (C Quote) and General Motors (GM Quote).

Also picking up ground were the S&P 500, rising 9.94 points, or 0.7%, to 1426.84, and the Nasdaq Composite, which collected 17.71 points, or 0.7%, to 2431.22.

Only one of the 30 industrials, United Technologies (UTX Quote), faltered.

U.S. stocks began the holiday-shortened week in an upbeat manner Tuesday, as the major averages advanced throughout the session and closed higher. The Dow rose 64.41 points to 12,407.63, and the S&P 500 climbed 6.14 points to 1416.90. The Nasdaq tacked on 12.33 points to 2413.51.

For both the New York Stock Exchange and the Nasdaq, the past two days have been marked by fairly low volume. About 1.50 billion shares changed hands on the NYSE, and 1.26 billion shares traded on the Nasdaq. Winners beat losers roughly 7 to 3.

Two days remain in 2006 for Wall Street. However, though the NYSE hasn't announced its plans, trading could potentially be canceled one day this week because of the death of former President Gerald Ford.

The 38th U.S. president died at the age of 93, and the Big Board has a tradition of closing on the nationally recognized day of mourning following the passing of a president.

Turning to the economy, the government said new homes were sold at an annual rate of 1.047 million in November, up a bit from the pace of right at 1 million in October. The pickup in housing sales was better than the 1.02 million rate analysts had expected.

Energy prices were generally lower. A day after falling 2%, crude oil futures were down another 76 cents to $60.34 a barrel. Precious metals were higher, led by a gain of $3.40 in the price of gold to $630.30 an ounce.

Treasuries were sinking. The 10-year note was dropping 13/32 in price and yielding 4.65%, and the 30-year bond was down 23/32 and yielding 4.78%.