NEW YORK >> Wall Street passed another milestone in its budding recovery today as the Dow Jones industrials crossed 9,000 for the first time in six weeks. Stocks had their second straight advance as another day without bad news strengthened investors' confidence. Dow climbs
above 9,000By Amy Baldwin
Associated Press"It is time for a rebound. It is encouraging that this is happening in August at a time when there are a lot of people out of town and not putting in their trades," said Susan L. Malley, chief investment officer for Malley Associates Capital Management. "I do think that this firmness, even though it is on light volume, is a sign that the bottom is in."
Advancing issues outnumbered decliners slightly more than 2 to 1 on the New York Stock Exchange, where volume was light. The Dow closed up 96.41, or 1.1 percent, at 9,053.64, building yesterday's 85-point gain. The Dow has recovered 1,351.30 points since its July 23 low of 7,702.34.
The broader market was also higher. The Nasdaq composite index rose 13.69, or 1 percent, to 1,422.94, having closed above 1,400 yesterday for the first time since July 8. The Standard & Poor's 500 index advanced 13.34, or 1.4 percent, to 962.70. The Russell 2000 index rose 2.88, or 0.7 percent, to 409.67.
The price of the Treasury's 10-year note was down 27/32 point today, while its yield rose to 4.30 percent from 4.20 percent late yesterday. Two-year Treasury notes were down 7/32 point and yielded 2.21 percent, up from 2.10 percent yesterday.
Investors are feeling more confident about stocks, as seen last week when all the indexes scored their second straight weekly gains, a feat last seen in the two-week period ending March 8.
Wall Street also owes its gains to a welcome break from major earnings shortfalls, disappointing economic reports and bookkeeping scandals.
"The lack of bad news over the past few weeks has been encouraging," said Thomas F. Lydon Jr., president of Global Trends Investments in Newport Beach, Calif. "People are taking a deep breath and looking for opportunities while they are still around."
Still, investors are expected to occasionally lock in profits while they await signs that a solid economic recovery is under way and that profits are showing significant improvement.
Among today's gainers, Microsoft rose 95 cents to $53.23 after Salomon Smith Barney upgraded the stock to "outperform" from "neutral."
Other tech bellwethers also advanced. IBM rose 99 cents to $81.99, while Hewlett-Packard gained 60 cents to $15.30.
Wall Street's gains were spread across a broad range of sectors, which analysts attributed to prices having fallen to attractive levels.
Citigroup climbed 83 cents to $35.18, Johnson & Johnson rose $1.31 to $49.32, and General Motors advanced $1.31 to $49.32.
Talbots rose $1.32 to $34.52 after Merrill Lynch raised its 2002 and 2003 earnings estimates for the retailer. The advance also came a day after the company beat quarterly profit expectations.
But weaker-than-expected earnings weighed on Men's Wearhouse, down $1.07 at $19.35, and Barnes & Noble, down 50 cents at $22.93. Both companies reported results that fell short of forecasts.
Despite better-than-expected second-quarter earnings, Williams-Sonoma fell $1.65 to $25 after also cutting its yearly forecast.
Investors keep close tabs how retailers are faring because consumer spending accounts for two-thirds of the economy.
Overseas, Japan's Nikkei stock average finished up 1.8 percent. In Europe, France's CAC-40 rose 3.1 percent, Britain's FTSE 100 gained 1.6 percent, and Germany's DAX index advanced 1 percent.