A new record run for Dow

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Stocks rose Wednesday, with the Dow industrials closing at another record high, as investors set aside worries about housing amid upbeat corporate news, including big investments from Berkshire Hathaway and others.

The Dow Jones industrial average (up 103.69 to 13,487.53, Charts) added more than 100 points and ended at an all-time high for the second straight day, at 13,487.53. The blue-chip barometer also hit a fresh intraday high of 13,489.57 shortly before the close.

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The broader S&P 500 index (up 12.95 to 1,514.14, Charts) added 0.9 percent and ended at a new 6-year high. The index now stands just 13 points short of its all-time high from March 2000.

The tech-fueled Nasdaq composite (up 22.13 to 2,547.42, Charts) added 0.9 percent.

Treasury prices ended modestly lower, while the dollar bounced back versus other major currencies. Oil and gold prices slumped.

After the close, Hewlett-Packard (Charts, Fortune 500) reported lower quarterly earnings and higher quarterly revenue. Shares rose 0.5 percent in extended-hours trading.

In a busy week for economic news, reports are due Thursday on leading economic indicators and mid-Atlantic manufacturing from the Philadelphia Fed. Friday brings the May consumer sentiment report from the University of Michigan.

In addition, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke is due to speak Thursday on the impact from the fallout of the subprime mortgage lending market.

Stocks had a choppy start to the week, with the major gauges tending to rise in the morning and then turn mixed in the afternoon as investors struggle to push the market higher after the recent record-breaking run.

Wednesday was equally choppy in the morning as mostly upbeat corporate news was countered by the housing market report.

But the tone improved in the afternoon, with the underlying bullishness again asserting itself, as it has for months.

"You're still seeing days where you have big deals announced, and it draws people in," said Timothy Ghriskey, chief investment officer at Solaris Asset Management, referring to the day's multi-billion dollar Bausch & Lomb deal. "People want exposure to the deal flow."

In addition, stocks were benefiting from reports of big first-quarter investments from Warren Buffett, George Soros, Carl Icahn and others.

"I think certainly when you get the big legacy investor names, when you get news about what they are investing in, that draws people in too," Ghriskey said.

In corporate news, Berkshire Hathaway, run by billionaire investor Warren Buffett, said in an SEC filing that it had almost doubled its stake in Dow stock Johnson & Johnson (up $1.23 to $63.05, Charts, Fortune 500) recently. Berkshire has also taken stakes in railroads Norfolk Southern (up $0.92 to $56.79, Charts, Fortune 500) and Union Pacific (up $1.10 to $119.39, Charts, Fortune 500), as well as insurer Wellpoint (up $1.31 to $84.86, Charts, Fortune 500).

Hedge fund manager Eddie Lampert revealed an $800 million stake in Dow stock Citigroup (up $2.12 to $54.91, Charts, Fortune 500), while George Soros has more than doubled his holdings in Dow stock Microsoft (up $0.17 to $31.07, Charts, Fortune 500).

Carl Icahn's Icahn Management bought a large stake in Anadarko Petroleum (up $0.73 to $47.20, Charts, Fortune 500), according to a regulatory filing, and also cut his stake in Time Warner (up $0.33 to $21.60, Charts, Fortune 500), CNNMoney.com's parent company.

In other corporate news, Bausch & Lomb (up $6.00 to $67.50, Charts) agreed to be taken private by Warburg Pincus for nearly $3.7 billion in cash and stock. Shares of the eye-care company surged nearly 10 percent.

Dell (up $1.25 to $25.92, Charts, Fortune 500) shares rose despite news that the New York State Attorney General's office has sued the tech leader over consumer complaints about its financing practices.

Halliburton (up $1.57 to $35.59, Charts, Fortune 500) shares gained after the company said its board had approved a 20 percent jump in its quarterly dividend to 9 cents per share.

On the downside, Applied Materials (down $0.63 to $19.17, Charts, Fortune 500) slipped 3 percent in active Nasdaq trading after saying late Tuesday that it sees flat sales and a 15 percent drop in orders in the current fiscal third quarter. That overshadowed the company's stronger-than-expected second-quarter earnings report.

Market breadth was positive. On the New York Stock Exchange, winners beat losers 5 to 3 on volume of 1.51 billion shares. On the Nasdaq, advancers topped decliners by almost 3 to 2 on volume of 2.13 billion shares.

Housing starts unexpectedly rose in April versus expectations for a drop, but building permits, a sign of upcoming construction, fell more than expected.

"We got some better news on housing starts, but permits are thought of as the leading indicator for housing and that was down pretty sharply, suggesting the the pace of new activity is slowing," said Jeffrey Kleintop, chief market strategist at LPL Financial Services.

He said that a slowdown in new activity is in itself a mixed development, in that it's bad for the home builders but not necessarily bad for the overall market if it boosts existing home sales.

Nonetheless, weakness in housing is not exactly a surprise, Kleintop said and investors may be looking for new economic developments before deciding whether to push the major gauges to new levels.

A separate reading showed industrial production rose 0.7 percent in April, topping forecasts. Capacity utilization also rose more than expected.

U.S. light crude oil for June delivery fell 62 cents to settle at $62.55 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, remaining lower after the weekly inventories report showed a surprise rise in gasoline and crude oil stocks.

COMEX gold for June delivery fell $13 to settle at $661.50 an ounce.

Treasury prices slipped a bit, pushing the yield on the 10-year note to 4.71 percent, up from 4.70 percent late Tuesday. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.

In currency trading, the dollar rallied against the euro and the yen.