Dow hits new record

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Stocks and bonds both rallied Friday morning, with the Dow Jones industrial average hitting a fresh trading high after a mild inflation report reassured investors that pricing pressure is starting to abate.

The Dow (up 60.24 to 12,477.00, Charts) gained 0.5 percent, hitting a fresh trading high around an hour into the session. The blue-chip barometer closed at a record high Thursday for the 19th time since October.

The broader S&P 500 (up 5.15 to 1,430.64, Charts) index added 0.3 percent, after ending the previous session at a more than six-year high. The tech-fueled Nasdaq (up 12.47 to 2,466.32, Charts) composite gained 0.5 percent and flirted with a fresh 2006 high.

A surprise drop in weekly jobless claims and a rebound in technology were among the factors lifting stocks Thursday.

Stocks continued to rise Friday morning, thanks to the supportive economic news.

Both overall consumer prices and core prices - which strip out food and energy - were unchanged in November, the government reported Friday. Wall Street economists thought both would rise 0.2 percent.

The report seemed to lend support to comments from the Federal Reserve that the slowing economy should take the edge off pricing pressure.

Other morning reports also supported the "soft landing" versus recession argument, including industrial production, which showed a surprise rise of 0.2 percent in November, versus economists' bets for an unchanged reading. Capacity utilization held steady, missing forecasts for a slight rise.

In corporate news, Dell (down $0.03 to $26.84, Charts) said after the close Thursday that it will delay filing its third-quarter financial report because of ongoing investigations into its finances. (Full story)

Adobe Systems (up $1.89 to $42.70, Charts) rallied after the software maker reported higher quarterly earnings and revenue late Thursday. (Full story).

Market breadth was positive. On the New York Stock Exchange, winners beat losers three to two on volume of 660 million shares. On the Nasdaq, advancers topped decliners eight to five on volume of 765 million shares.

Friday could be more volatile than usual in that it is a "quadruple witching" day, a quarterly event in which individual stock futures and options and stock index futures and options all expire at the same time. This can lead to fluctuations in the prices of the underlying stocks in the days leading up to the expiration.

U.S. light crude oil for January delivery gained 29 cents to $62.80 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Oil prices had rallied in the previous session after OPEC said it would cut production by 500,000 barrels per day starting Feb. 1.

Treasury prices rallied, lowering the yield on the benchmark 10-year note to 4.52 percent from 4.60 percent late Thursday. Bond prices and yields move in opposite directions.

In currency trading, the dollar inched lower against the yen and euro.

COMEX gold fell $1.90 to $629 an ounce.

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