NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Stocks rose Wednesday afternoon, pushing the Dow Jones industrial average within a whisper of its record closing high, before the world's most widely watched stock market gauge pulled back.

A weak read on durable goods orders and a mixed read on the housing market tempered the session's gains.

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The 30-share Dow (up 28.17 to 11,697.56, Charts) added about 0.2 percent three hours into the session after earlier coming within three points of its record closing high of 11,722.98, hit on Jan. 14, 2000. The record trading high is 11,750.28.

A surprisingly strong consumer confidence report gave stocks a leg up Tuesday, putting the Dow about 53 points from its record close.

The record is a psychological barrier but not necessarily one that Wall Street professionals are much influenced by, said Tom Schrader, managing director of U.S. stock trading at Legg Mason.

Should the Dow break its record close or trading high, "it will get a lot of press tonight and could make your mom and pop investor want to put more money to work tomorrow," Schrader said. But it doesn't make a broader statement about the market, he said.

"The Dow is not really representative of the U.S. economy," Schrader added. "It's a benchmark, but the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq are broader."

The broader S&P 500 (up 2.68 to 1,339.02, Charts) added a few points Wednesday after ending the previous session at its best point since February 2001. The Nasdaq composite (up 7.95 to 2,269.29, Charts) rose about 0.3 percent higher.

While the Dow is near its record, the S&P 500 and Nasdaq are far from their closing highs - the S&P 13 percent away and the Nasdaq 55 percent.

The Dow record in January 2000 came near the tail end of the Internet boom of the late 1990s. The Nasdaq and the S&P 500 hit their record highs roughly two months later.

But the broader market began to slide soon after. Within two weeks of hitting that January 2000 peak, the Dow had lost 8 percent. The Dow and the broader market recovered most of the losses in April and then in August of that year, before giving up and heading lower.

The bursting of the Internet bubble, the recession that ended in 2001 and the events of 9/11 all contributed to a bear market that lasted for three years. After bottoming out in October 2002, stocks have slowly recovered.

Last May, the S&P 500 hit a 5-1/2 year high and the Dow closed at its highest point since the record.

But record high oil prices and worries about the economy caused investors to backtrack through the summer. Stocks have since recovered, thanks to hopes that falling oil prices and slower but not too slow economic growth mean the nation is not heading for a recession, but a "soft landing."

A surprisingly weak read on August durable goods orders Wednesday initially seemed to challenge the recent economic optimism, as it suggested that perhaps the economy is slowing more than expected.

However, after a dip at the open Wednesday, stocks again moved higher.

Investors also took in a report that showed new home sales rose in August from July's revised numbers. But the median price of a new home dipped from a year earlier, due to an oversupply of new homes, further signs of the slowdown hitting the housing market.

Stock gains were fairly broad-based, with 21 out of 30 Dow stocks rising, led by Intel (up $0.62 to $20.58, Charts), McDonald's (up $0.75 to $39.81, Charts), General Motors (up $0.52 to $31.93, Charts) and General Electric (down $0.08 to $35.36, Charts).

Market breadth was positive. On the New York Stock Exchange, winners beat losers five to three as 800 million shares changed hands. On the Nasdaq, advancers topped decliners four to three as 1 billion shares changed hands.

U.S. light crude oil for November delivery rose 44 cents to $61.45 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, after falling earlier on a strong gain in inventories.

COMEX gold for December delivery rose $4.10 to $601.20 an ounce.

Treasury prices turned lower, with the yield on the benchmark 10-year note rising to around 4.59 percent from 4.58 percent late Monday. Bond prices and yields move in opposite directions.

In currency trading, the dollar gained modestly versus the yen and was little changed against the euro.

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