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Dow peaks over 10,000 again
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March 18, 1999: 7:08 p.m. ET
Index closes just below milestone after second brief encounter with 10K
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NEW YORK (CNNfn) - Two minutes. That's all that stood in the way of Wall Street and another key milestone.
Helped by a market-friendly inflation report and soaring financial and transportation issues, the Dow Jones industrial average topped the 10,000 mark at 3:52 p.m. ET Thursday. For the next few minutes the blue chip index jumped back and forth in a furious give and take that captivated traders from New York to Chicago.
But, with two minutes to go, the Dow gave way, choosing to settle for a record close rather than the brass ring many market watchers were rooting for. It was the second time this week, the Dow flirted with 10,000 and fell short.
For the record, the Dow rose 118.21 points or 1.2 percent, to close at 9,997.62.
The rally left may experts wondering what it will take to get the Dow over the hump.
Thomas Galvin, chief investment officer at Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette, told the Moneyline News Hour with Lou Dobbs the market still needs to clear a couple of hurdles.
"Tomorrow we have triple witching… and after that we have further to go in the earnings-confession period when companies preannounce bad earnings," Galvin said. "Once we get beyond that into April, I think we're going to get very strong profits, better than the growth rates we've seen over the last year."
Triple witching, or the simultaneous expiration of stock options, index options and index futures, typically creates stock volatility. In recent periods, stocks have moved higher ahead of the event.
A five-digit floor?
Michael Holland, chairman of Holland & Co. said the five-figure level is an indication of the market's strength and could turn into a floor from which stocks could climb even higher. (265K WAV) or (265K AIFF)
Trading volume on the New York Stock Exchange reached 836 million shares, with advances outpacing declines by a margin of 1,558 to 1,367.
The S&P 500 index, a broader measure of blue chip stock performance, jumped 18.73 points, or 1.4 percent, to close at a record 1,316.55. The Nasdaq Composite climbed 33.99, or 1.4 percent, to 2,462.96.
An unsurprising consumer price report for February underpinned the rally, once again confirming views that even with nine years of expansion, the U.S. economy is still generating very little inflation.
The data triggered buying in the bond market, sending the price of the benchmark 30-year Treasury bond up 6/32 of a point and the yield down to 5.48 percent.
The dollar continued to fight hard against other global currencies, giving up ground against the yen but driving the euro back down to Wednesday's levels.
Banks fuel to the rally
Banks gave the market much of its upward momentum, surging dramatically in response to the bond market's gains and some bargain-hunting after the sector's recent retreat.
Among the blue chip bankers, American Express (AXP) climbed 6-11/16 to 127-5/8, aided further by J.P. Morgan, which initiated coverage of the company with a "buy" rating. Meanwhile, J.P. Morgan (JPM), a fellow Dow 30 member, leapt 3-11/16 to 124-3/16 and Citigroup (C) jumped 1-15/16 to 64-11/16.
Outside of the Dow, Chase Manhattan (CMB) was up 1-1/2 to 83-7/8 on speculation the company is out looking for buyout targets. According to media reports, the bank's CEO is willing to offer concessions in a bid to attract merger partners.
Oil and transports mix?
Investors found both transportation companies and big oil on the winning side, a relatively rare occurrence as rising petroleum prices usually give oil stocks a boost but depress the transports.
Dow component Exxon (XON) rose 5/16 to 74-11/16 in response to a leap in crude oil prices to a five-month high, while exuberant earnings news from Federal Express parent FDX (FDX) drove the express delivery service's stock up 5-3/16 to 98-1/8 and the Dow transports index up a 96.28 points, or 2.9 percent, to 3,433.07.
Airline stocks also fed into the transport sector's advance, led by a triumphant performance from American Airlines holding company AMR (AMR), which rallied 4-5/8, or more than 8 percent, to 62-1/8. Although AMR late Wednesday confirmed speculation that first-quarter profits will fall short because of a week long pilot strike in February, analysts said the market already had priced the probable losses into the stock price.
More bad news for PC makers
Dulling the broader market's enthusiasm, the computer sector chimed in with a gloomy note after fresh negative comments shook fragile confidence in the industry's growth outlook.
This time, Compaq (CPQ) was the company leading the retreat. Influential Piper Jaffray computer analyst Ashok Kumar singled Compaq out, saying that overall industry weakness would cause the company's first-quarter revenue and profits to fall short of Wall Street expectations.
Compaq shares fell 1-3/8 to 31-7/8 in response, while Dell (DELL), which sparked a broader sell-off last month amid similarly bearish comments from Kumar, shed 11/16 to 42-1/4. Computer makers among the Dow industrials were not immune but recovered late in the day, with IBM (IBM) easing 7/16 to 177-5/8 and Hewlett Packard (HWP) edging up 13/16 to 74.
However, this time the selling did not extend beyond the core computer industry. Among other tech bellwethers, Microsoft (MSFT) climbed 5-5/16 to 172-7/16 and Intel (INTC) gained 1-5/16 to 121-13/16.
In the Internet sector, venture-capital firm CMGI (CMGI) soared 9-7/16 to 184-13/16 after a 2-for-1 stock split and amid reports it will fight the impending merger of Web portal Lycos (LCOS), in which it is a major shareholder, with USA Networks (USAI). Lycos tumbled 4 to 97-3/4, while USA Networks rose 1-1/16 to 38-9/16.
Finally, Barnes & Noble (BKS) flew 5-1/2 to 34-3/8, a gain of more than 19 percent, after the bookseller set an initial stock offering for its Internet bookstore barnesandnoble.com. Online archrival Amazon.com (AMZN) shrugged off the news, climbing 7-7/16 to 138-7/16.
(Click here for a look at today's CNNfn market movers)
(Click here for a look at today's CNNfn technology stocks report) 
-- by staff writers Robert Scott Martin and Malina Poshtova Zang
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