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Markets & Stocks
Dow rockets toward 10,000
March 11, 1999: 1:38 p.m. ET

Solid economy, soaring oil prices help steer blue chips toward milestone
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NEW YORK (CNNfn) - Fearless bulls charged through 9,900 on the Dow Thursday and continued their assault on the stock market in afternoon trading, buoyed by a healthy U.S. economy and a resurgence in world oil prices.
     Shortly before 1:30 p.m. ET the Dow Jones industrial average rallied 137.37 points, or 1.4 percent, to 9,910.21, trading deep into record territory and getting within 70 points of 10,000.
     "If we get there really quickly, it will back off, because the traders have been caught by surprise. The have been shorting the market, because technically it should be going down, so it will back off rather quickly," said Dodge Dorland, chief investment officer and Landor Investment Management. "If it takes longer to get up there, then, I think, it will hold."
     On the New York Stock Exchange, advances trounced declines 1,758 to 1,118 as a hefty 559 million shares changed hands.
     The Nasdaq Composite gained 21.61 points to 2,427.61. The S&P 500 index was up 14.95, or 1.2 percent, to 1,301.79, also trading in record territory. (Click here for a look at today's CNNfn market movers)
     Thursday's rally came on the back of a rebound in world oil prices, but it was underpinned by the stellar health of the U.S. economy -- which in its ninth year of expansion is still generating strong employment growth, rising productivity and consumer demand, yet showing few signs of inflation.
     The bond market fell as soaring stocks steered investors away from debt issues and a weakened dollar added pressure. The benchmark 30-year Treasury bond traded 1/2 of a point lower in price, for a yield of 5.59 percent.
     The dollar tumbled against the euro after the sudden resignation of German Finance Minister Oscar Lafontaine. The dollar also eased against the yen.
    
Oil moves 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 2-7/8 to 86-1/8 and Exxon (XON) gained 2-1/8 to 181-1/2.
     Elsewhere in the sector, BP Amoco (BPA) rallied 6-1/8 to 99-1/4 and Phillips Petroleum (P) advanced 2-3/4 to 44-3/4 amid speculation the company may be a takeover target.
     Still, analysts were skeptical about the longevity of the oil rally.
     "If in fact the OPEC countries can get together and cut supply, that would be great," said Patricia Chadwick, director of U.S. equities at Invesco. "I think what tends to happen is when we hear these kinds of announcements, oil stocks do extremely well and yet the truth is somewhat a little less exciting than what the announcement comes out as. But I think definitely they need to cut supply -- there is a glut of oil around and anything they can do should help the oil stocks."
    
Technology aims high

     The tech sector also appeared robust. Shares of 3Com (COMS) rose 1-7/8 to 26-1/2 on news the company is teaming up with Microsoft (MSFT) to develop home networking products. Microsoft traded 2-1/2 higher at 163-7/8.
     Most other high-tech leaders were higher, with Dow member IBM (IBM) up 3-9/16 to 185-1/16, Intel (INTC) up 1-5/8 to 118-1/2 and Cisco Systems (CSCO) up 1-3/4 to 106-1/8.
     Yahoo! (YHOO) gained 7-7/8 to 181-1/2 on news it had reached a deal with German telecommunications conglomerate Mannesmann to provide Internet services to Germans via Mannesmann phone lines.
     And shares of online service provider America Online (AOL) gained 3-1/8 to 95-15/16 on news regional phone service provider SBC Communications (SBC) will provide high-speed access to AOL in seven states by year-end.
    
Transportation slows down

     The rising cost of oil hit home in the transportation sector, taking the Dow transports index down 16.87 to 3,271.53.
     Major airline stocks took minor hits, hurt by the prospects of costlier business, but cushioned by the robust state of the U.S. economy, which should mean more business. American Airlines parent AMR (AMR) eased 13/16 to 56-5/16, Delta Air Lines (DAL) fell 2-1/16 to 60-15/16 and United Airlines parent UAL (UAL) was down 3/4 to 64-3/4. Back to top
     -- by staff writer Malina Poshtova Zang

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Most stock quote data provided by BATS. Market indices are shown in real time, except for the DJIA, which is delayed by two minutes. All times are ET. Disclaimer. Morningstar: © 2018 Morningstar, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Factset: FactSet Research Systems Inc. 2018. All rights reserved. Chicago Mercantile Association: Certain market data is the property of Chicago Mercantile Exchange Inc. and its licensors. All rights reserved. Dow Jones: The Dow Jones branded indices are proprietary to and are calculated, distributed and marketed by DJI Opco, a subsidiary of S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC and have been licensed for use to S&P Opco, LLC and CNN. Standard & Poor's and S&P are registered trademarks of Standard & Poor's Financial Services LLC and Dow Jones is a registered trademark of Dow Jones Trademark Holdings LLC. All content of the Dow Jones branded indices © S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC 2018 and/or its affiliates.