The new high completes its recovery
Star-Bulletin wire services
from a recent 700-point slideNEW YORK -- The Dow Jones industrial average shot above 7,200 for the first time today, soaring more than 140 points on a late buying frenzy to complete a speedy recovery from the market's recent tumbles. Broader stock measures also rallied, boosting several to record highs along with the Dow.
The resurgent technology sector continued to lead the way, catapulting the Nasdaq market to its second straight gain of more than 2.5 percent.
The Dow gained about 143.29 points, or 2 percent, to close at 7,214.49 led by a late surge from Philip Morris Cos., which jumped on news that rival cigarette maker RJR Nabisco Holdings Corp. had prevailed against a smoker liability suit in Florida.
Today's performance was the Dow's fourth-highest one-day point gain, but it wasn't close to the largest percentage increases.
The Dow's gain easily wiped out the remaining 15-point deficit from a 700-point slide that followed its last record high, set March 11 at 7,085.16. Other big gainers in the famed blue-chip average included IBM Corp. and General Electric Co. Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by nearly a 3-to-1 margin on the New York Stock Exchange, with 1,971 up, 685 down and 698 unchanged.
NYSE volume totaled 549.40 million shares vs. 499.76 million on Friday.
The Standard & Poor's 500-stock list rose 17.23, or 2.1 percent, to 830.20, easily beating Feb. 18's record high of 816.29.
The NYSE composite index rose 8.46 to 431.43, it's first new high since March 10.
The Nasdaq index rose 33.99 to 1,339.32, and the American Stock Exchange composite index climbed 4.08 to 572.58.
Despite the carnage earlier in 1997, both the Dow and S&P 500 now have gains of about 12 percent for the year to date.
"You look at the type of stocks that are rallying, it's the old-favorite momentum stocks of the past," said Bill Chenoweth, who manages small-company investments at Turner Investment Partners.
Momentum stocks are those whose earnings or prices, or both, are rising rapidly.
Investors create momentum of their own chasing after these shares as they rise and dumping them when they don't rise fast enough.
There were no major economic reports today to bolster or dampen last week's enthusiasm that a previously dire outlook for inflation and interest rates had improved.
Bloomberg News and the Associated Press
contributed to this report
