Dow up 32.89
to another record

NEW YORK -- Stocks rose to new highs today, with the Dow Jones industrial average crossing briefly 8,500 for the first time.

The Dow pulled back slightly before the close, finishing 32.89 points higher at 8,490,67 after rising as high as 8,503 during the final hour of trading. The Dow has now rallied about 800 points from January's low and about 1,500 points from the bottom of late October's financial panic.

Advancers led decliners by a 3-to-2 margin on the New York Stock Exchange, with 1,738 up, 1,130 down and 572 unchanged. NYSE volume was 645.79 million shares vs. 608.36 million yesterday.

Broader stock measures also posted modest gains to pad yesterday's record highs.

The Standard & Poor's 500 rose 5.76 to 1,048.66, the NYSE composite index gained 3.01 to 543.39, and the Nasdaq composite index climbed 10.63 to 1,777.11, with all three measures setting new highs.

The Russell 2000 index of smaller companies rose 3.08 to 461.57, less than 4 points from the Oct. 13 record of 465.21. The small-company dominated American Stock Exchange composite index gained 8.63 to 700.42, its first close above 700 since just before the Asian crisis shoved the market into a tailspin on Oct. 27.

The price of the Treasury's main 30-year bond was down 5/16 point, or $3.12 per $1,000 in face value, by late afternoon, while its yield rose to 5.94 percent from 5.92 percent late yesterday.

Overseas, Tokyo's Nikkei stock average rose 0.9 percent, and London's FTSE 100 rose 0.3 percent to a record 5,764.80.