NEW YORK - Smaller-company stocks set a new high for the first time in five months today, highlighting another record-setting day in Wall Street's rebound from the market scare back in October. Dow up 32.6 to another record
The Dow Jones industrial average briefly moved within 5 points of 8,700 before pulling back and finishing 32.63 points higher at 8,675.75, its second record close in a row. For 1998, the Dow is up more than 750 points, or 9.7 percent.
Advancers led decliners by a 7-to-5 margin on the New York Stock Exchange, with 1,767 up, 1,239 down and 497 unchanged. NYSE volume was 652.32 million shares vs. 631.45 million yesterday.
Broader stock indicators also posted modest gains, but it was enough to lift the Russell 2000 index of smaller companies to its first record since Oct. 13.
The Standard & Poor's 500 index rose 4.22 to 1,068.47, and the NYSE composite index rose 2.30 to 557.30, padding yesterday's records highs by both measures. The Nasdaq composite index gained 8.34 to 1,756.85.
The Russell 2000 rose 2.50 to 467.12, topping Oct. 13's record of 465.21. The small-company dominated American Stock Exchange composite index gained 1.24 to 713.93, but still sits about 8 points shy of its October peak.
The price of the Treasury's main 30-year bond was up 1/4 point, or $2.50 per $1,000 in face value, by late afternoon, while its yield slipped to 5.94 percent from 5.95 percent late yesterday. Prices and yields move in opposite directions.
With no major companies announcing any bad news for the second straight day, concerns about last week's string of profit warnings from Intel Corp., Motorola Inc. and Compaq Computer Corp. continued to fade.
Overseas, Tokyo's Nikkei stock average fell 1.3 percent, while both Frankfurt's DAX index and London's FTSE 100 finished slightly lower.