Dow bulls
through 10,000The blue-chip index surges
184.54 points today to finally
close above the milestoneIsle analysts mixed on meaning
NEW YORK -- The Dow Jones industrial average closed above 10,000 for the first time, after flirting with the milestone for two weeks. Oil shares, among the market's worst performers for the past two years, posted the biggest gains, after BP Amoco Plc said it's in talks to buy Atlantic Richfield Co.
New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani joined New York Stock Exchange Chairman Richard Grasso and John Prestbo, markets editor at Dow Jones & Co., in throwing Dow 10,000 hats to the crowd on the trading floor at the market's close.
"We'll stay above the 10,000 level, though it's going to be a volatile market," said Andrew Damm, a fund manager with BlackRock Inc., which oversees $132 billion in Philadelphia. "It does seem the market is broadening out."
The Dow average rose 184.54, or 1.9 percent, to close at 10,006.78 today.
The 30-stock average crossed trading during three sessions the week before last, failing to stay there until today. International Business Machines Corp. led the Dow in its final push above the milestone, after Goldman, Sachs & Co. investment strategist Abby Joseph Cohen said in a New York Times interview that IBM and Dell Computer Corp. are undervalued. It was the average's ninth 1,000-point milestone since 1982.
Technology is "going to be a more and more important part of our gross domestic product," said Mark Lapman, a money manager with Independence Investment Associates, which oversees about $33 billion in Boston. Lapman owns shares of Dell, IBM, Microsoft Corp. and Intel Corp.
The Standard & Poor's 500 Index rose 27.37, or 2.1 percent, to 1310.17. The Nasdaq composite index gained 73.67, or 3 percent, to 2,492.84.
Advancers beat decliners by an 8-to-5 margin on the New York Stock Exchange, with 1,830 up, 1,127 down and 553 unchanged.
NYSE volume totaled 748.81 million shares, vs. 694.4 million million Friday.
The NYSE composite index rose 10.81 to 613.16, but the American Stock Exchange composite index fell 0.86 to 717.88.
And the Russell 2000 index, which reflects the performance of smaller companies, rose 5.84 to 399.76.
The price of the Treasury's main 30-year bond was down 22/36 point, or $6.871/2 per $1,000 in face value, by late afternoon, while its yield rose to 5.64 percent from 5.59 percent late Friday. Prices and yields move in opposite directions.
On Wall Street, Arco jumped $8.68 to $74.06 and American depositary receipts of BP rose $4.56 to $105. A source familiar with the talks said the acquisition could be worth $25 billion in stock, or 19 percent above Arco's value on Friday.
An announcement could come later this week after the boards meet, the person said.
The talks are the latest sign of consolidation in the oil industry, which is struggling to cut costs after crude prices fell by a third last year. Other oil stocks rallied, helped by crude's rise to a one-year high.
Overseas, Japan's Nikkei stock average fell 0.4 percent. Germany's DAX index soared 1.4 percent after Friday's selloff. Britain's FTSE 100 was up 1.85 percent, and France's CAC-40 was up 0.92 percent.