Dow gains 45.59
to set record

NEW YORK -- Blue-chip stocks barely set a new high today as a late wave of selling wiped out most of the day's gains.

The Dow Jones industrial average rose 45.59 points to close at 9,192.66, down from a 115-point gain, but still enough to top April 21's record close of 9,184.94. The blue-chip barometer gained almost 200 points the prior two sessions.

Advancers led decliners by a small margin on the New York Stock Exchange, with 1,570 up, 1,456 down and 485 unchanged. NYSE volume was 550.66 million shares vs. 571.84 million Friday.

Several broad-market indexes flirted with new highs before fading into the close as the rally that began on Thursday lost momentum. The Standard & Poor's 500 rose 1.07 to 1,122.07, and the NYSE composite index gained 0.82 to 582.73. The Nasdaq composite index rose 5.42 to 1,878.86. The Russell 2000 index of smaller companies rose 0.52 to 485.26, while the American Stock Exchange composite index fell 1.06 to 748.80.

The price of the Treasury's main 30-year bond was off 1/16 point, or 62-1/2 cents per $1,000 in face value, around midday, while its yield edged up to 5.94 percent from 5.93 percent late Friday.

Stocks opened the day strong, padding their gains from Thursday and Friday, when a timely stream of economic data reinforced the long-standing theme of steady, noninflationary growth.

The data quickly overshadowed last Monday's reports that the Federal Reserve may boost interest rates to ease pricing pressures by slowing the economy.