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Upbeat start on Wall St.
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March 11, 1999: 10:16 a.m. ET
Stocks move higher as oil prices continue to climb; Dow in record land
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NEW YORK (CNNfn) - U.S. stocks bounced higher at the start of trading Thursday, keeping the previous day's upward momentum and once again getting powered by soaring oil issues.
Shortly before 10 a.m. ET the Dow Jones industrial average was 37.74 points higher at 9,810.58, trading deep into record territory and getting ever closer to 10,000. On the New York Stock Exchange, advances trounced declines 1,396 to 900 as 111 million shares changed hands.
The Nasdaq Composite, left out of Wednesday's blue chip rally, gained 13.43 to 2,419.43. The S&P 500 index was up 4.72 to 1.291.56.
The bond market lost the support it had gotten from the day's economic numbers, an as-expected reading on retail sales in February. The benchmark 30-year Treasury bond fell 9/32 of a point in price, for a yield of 5.57 percent.
The dollar gained ground against the euro, which suffered pressure from rising oil prices. The dollar also rose against the yen after Japanese Vice Finance Minister Eisuke Sakakibara was reported to have said excessive yen strength is no good for Tokyo.
Oil pushes to the front burner
Oil stocks, largely responsible for the Dow's advance to a new record Wednesday, once again took the leadership in the market, charging higher as world oil prices continued to rise.
Oil markets, which have suffered severe declines over the past year, have seen a strong rebound this week amid speculation that the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries will cut production when it meets later this month. Premier OPEC members, like Gulf Arab states, Algeria and Venezuela, as well as Mexico, a non-OPEC oil producer, are said to be supporting output cuts.
Among the Dow components, shares of Chevron (CHV) climbed 1-3/8 to 84-5/8 and Exxon (XON) gained 7/8 to 74-3/16.
Elsewhere in the sector, BP Amoco (BPA) rallied 4-5/16 to 97-7/16 and Phillips Petroleum (P) advanced 1-13/16 to 43-13/16 amid speculation the company may be a takeover target.
In the oil services niche, shares of Schlumberger (SLB) gained 3/16 to 58-11/16.
In the day's other news, shares of computer distributor Ingram Micro (IM) shed 1-1/8 to 17-1/2 after the company issued a profit warning and said it would cut 1,400 jobs.
But Yahoo! (YHOO) gained 4-1/16 to 177-11/16 on news it had reached a deal with German telecommunications conglomerate Mannesmann to provide Internet services to Germans via Mannesmann phone lines.
Finally, shares of Hughes Electronics (GMH), a separately traded unit of General Motors (GM), rose 5/8 to 48-3/8 despite a warning from the company it could be forced to take a $100 million charge if a proposed deal to sell satellite technology to China fails to get government approval. 
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