NEW YORK -- Stocks rose sharply today before retreating from record territory, leaving the Dow Jones industrial average just short of recovering the previous day's losses. Dow pares gains,
ends up 33The 116.48-point intra-day peak approached the Dow's record close of 7,796.51 of a week ago, but investors quelled their enthusiasm in mid-afternoon trading. The Dow ended up only 33.47 points, closing at 7,687.72.
Advancers outnumbered decliners by a 13-to-7 margin on the New York Stock Exchange, with 1,815 up, 973 down and 583 unchanged. NYSE volume was 469.70 million shares vs. 499.80 million yesterday.
The Standard & Poor's 500-stock list was up 6.57 at 890.25, and the NYSE's composite index was up 2.37 at 463.30. The American Stock Exchange composite index was up 3.97 at 620.07. The Nasdaq composite index was up 1.52 at 1,437.90.
The afternoon pullback may have been due in part to low volume of trading because of the weekend exodus of traders, analysts said. The market was also affected by end-of-quarter portfolio positioning, they said.
The market surge came after the Commerce Department announced that the economy expanded at a 5.9 percent seasonally adjusted annual rate in the first quarter, the best rate since 1987. But economists expect growth well below that rate in the quarter that ends this month as consumers ease off their spending pace.
That would be in time to help dissuade the Federal Reserve from raising interest rates at its July 1-2 meeting to head off inflation.