Dow climbs 70.57
to another record

NEW YORK -- An apparently unstoppable stock market bounded to its sixth straight day of record highs after a report on producer prices reinforced a widespread confidence that inflation remains under control.

The Dow Jones industrial average rose 70.57 points to close at 7,782.04, nearly touching 7,800 one day after the blue-chip barometer broke the 7,600 and 7,700 marks.

The blue-chip average is up 20 percent this year.

Advancing issues led decliners by a more than 2-to-1 margin on the New York Stock Exchange, with 1,760 up, 827 down and 811 unchanged. NYSE volume was 566.94 million shares vs. 592.73 million yesterday.

Broad-market indexes also set records, including the Nasdaq composite, which had lagged in previous sessions but rose today on recovering technology issues.

The Standard & Poor's 500-stock list rose 9.81 to 893.27, and the NYSE's index rose 4.53 to 465.17. The Nasdaq composite index gained 11.81 to 1,423.13, and the American Stock Exchange composite rose 3.98 to 630.10.

The market rose with bond prices after investors got yet another good report on the economy.

Stocks were aided by bonds, where the 30-year benchmark Treasury bond was up 9/16 point and yielding 6.72.

The Labor Department said prices paid to producers from farms and factories fell in May for the fifth month straight. Today's report on the producer price index was the latest evidence that inflation pressures are under control, giving the Federal Reserve little incentive to raise interest rates when it meets early next month.

The report seemed to confirm the previous day's report of lower retail sales.