Dow jumps 88,
setting record

NEW YORK -- Stocks rallied today, boosting the Nasdaq market to its first record since January, as investors grew confident that Federal Reserve policy has swung decisively away from boosting interest rates.

The Dow Jones industrial average gained 87.78 points to close at 7,345.91, beating last Thursday's record close of 7,333.55. For the week, the Dow rose 151.24.

Advancers outnumbered decliners by nearly a 3-to-1 margin on the New York Stock Exchange, with 1,884 up, 644 down and 814 unchanged. NYSE volume totaled 416.26 million shares vs. 426.95 million yesterday.

The Standard & Poor's 500-stock list rose 11.37 to 847.03, and the NYSE's composite index rose 5.62 to 440.28. The Nasdaq composite index rose 16.95 to 1,389.55, beating Jan. 22's all-time best close of 1,388.06. Just six weeks ago, the Nasdaq was down about 181 points, or 13 percent, from that mark. The American Stock Exchange composite index rose 4.21 to 597.94.

In the absence of any fresh economic news to aggravate the market's lingering inflation jitters, interest rates held steady in the bond market after creeping toward worrisome levels during the prior two sessions.

Analysts said investors were encouraged by newly published minutes from the Federal Reserve's meeting on March 25.

At that meeting, Fed officials raised short-term lending rates as insurance against inflationary trends.

But in so doing, they acknowledged that inflation "remained remarkably subdued."