(MONEY Magazine) – All benchmarks rose in September, with the Dow chasing (but not quite reaching) a record high. Tech-heavy Nasdaq was up 4%, bolstered by an 8.3% gain at widely held Cisco Systems; shares of the network equipment maker rose on forecasts of greater demand for high-bandwidth services. The S&P's consumer discretionary sector, which includes major retailers and hotels, rose for the first time since April; low interest rates are expected to fuel consumer spending.

S&P 500 SECTOR AVERAGES

TOP-PERFORMING STOCKS

BENCHMARKS

S&P 500 RATIOS

P/E 17.9 DIVIDED YIELD 1.85%

HIGHEST-YIELDING DOW STOCKS

MOST WIDELY HELD STOCKS

NOTES AND SOURCES: Unless otherwise noted, data as of Sept. 28 from Lipper, New York; 877-955-4773. Index levels from Bloomberg. Bond index data from Lehman Brothers. Stock data from Thomson/Baseline. Monthly S&P 500 ratios from Standard & Poor's. Ratios are based on previous four quarters of earnings. Top-Performing Stocks limited to companies with market capitalization of at least $500 million. Most Widely Held Stocks ranked by largest accounts at Merrill Lynch. N.A.: Not applicable or not available. [1] Annualized. [2] Price change only.