Soon after trading began this morning, the widely watched average rose 9.31 to 6002.17, stayed above that mark for three minutes, dropped back, then briefly rose above it again.
Eventually, the Dow closed down 13.05 at 5,979.81.
"The overall environment (for stocks) suggests Carly Simon had it right when she said 'These are the Good Old Days,'" said Dirk van Dijk, a money manager at C.H. Dean & Associates in Dayton, Ohio, who helps manage about $4 billion.
The record-breaking move came less than 11 months after the average reached 5,000 last Nov. 21. So far this year, the Dow industrials are ahead 16.9 percent. With about two months left in 1996, the 30-stock average is on course to register its sixth straight annual advance - a feat never accomplished in its 100-year history.
Perhaps more impressive, the Dow industrials have rebounded 797.13 points, or 15.4 percent, since July 16, when prices sank amid concern interest rates would rise and corporate profits would prove disappointing.
Since then, stock investors have grown less concerned that interest rates will rise. Yields on benchmark 30-year Treasury bonds have headed down instead of up. At 6.78 percent today, the yield is well below a July peak of 7.19 percent.
On Wall Street today, declining issues outnumbered advancers by a slim margin on the New York Stock Exchange, with 1,148 up, 1,231 down and 871 unchanged. NYSE volume totaled 380.74 million shares, vs. 463.88 million Friday.
The S&P 500 rose 0.32 to 701.78, and the NYSE's composite index rose 0.58 to 374.74.
The Nasdaq composite index rose 3.00 to 1,250.56, and the American Stock Exchange's market value index rose 2.33 to 582.22.