Posted on 05/07/2007 7:16:25 PM PDT by LdSentinal
NEW YORK (AP) -- Wall Street closed mostly higher Monday, though technology stocks struggled to hold onto gains during the session, as a $27 billion bid by Alcoa Inc. for Canadian aluminum rival Alcan Inc. buoyed blue chip issues. The Dow Jones industrials passed 13,300 for the first time and had yet another record close.
The move by Alcoa, one of the 30 stocks that make up the Dow, gave much of the market a lift Monday as investors often regard merger and acquisition activity as a bullish bet by companies on corporate profit. A pullback in Yahoo Inc. depressed tech shares.
With little earnings and economic data to go on, investors were waiting for further signals to try to determine where stocks might be headed and whether Wall Street's record rally will continue. They were also awaiting the Federal Reserve's decision Wednesday on interest rates.
Monday afternoon, the Fed reported that consumers boosted their borrowing in March at the fastest pace in four months. The report showed that consumer credit increased at a brisk annual rate of 6.7 percent in March.
"We're kind of waiting for macroeconomic news to shape the outlook for the rest of the year," said Les Satlow, portfolio manager at Cabot Money Management. "I do believe the market will spend some time here trying to catch its breath or even pull back a bit. We need more macroeconomic clarity as to second half of 2007 and the direction the Fed."
The Dow industrials rose 48.35, or 0.36 percent, to 13,312.97. The Dow rose as high as 13,317.69 Monday, topping a previous trading high of 13,284.53 set Friday.
The blue chip index has hit 20 record closes since the start of the year and 42 since the beginning of October. The gains in 24 of the last 27 sessions marks the longest winning streak for the blue chips since 1927.
Broader stock indicators rose. The Standard & Poor's 500 index rose 3.86, or 0.26 percent, to 1,509.48. Last week, the S&P 500 moved above the 1,500 level for the first time in nearly seven years. The 1,500 level puts the closing high of 1,527.46 reached in March 24, 2000, within investors' sights.
The Bush recession deepens.
LOL!
but it’s the worst economy since Herbert Hoover!!!!! < / sarc
Gas hits record highs too. What is the Dow, priced in gallons of gas?
There is already rumblings of that.
Shhhhh!!!! You’ll wake the media!
The media have been downplaying this good economic news. I have seen various MSM stories about how the market is getting ready to go back down, and once it starts falling, it’s anyone’s guess how far. And they talk about how if you’re getting into the market now, you could incur losses when the market starts dropping. I think they are looking for any possible downside to this good news by saying it’s not going to last. Then if/when the market starts sliding down, they will say they predicted it and blame it on Bush’s policies.
Yah, been downplaying it for about 7 years now, ever since the Clinton's sold their priceless collection of White House engraved silverware at a pawn shop ........
I knew that line would show up, and it should have. Good call. There was a lefty on the Laura Ingraham show this morning, and he had the brass huevos to state, “Yes, the economy has grown but lately things have slowed down a lot.” (paraphrased) What a nut!
i just hope the crash is gentle
Yeah baby. My portfolio is looking real good these days. Go GWB.
Seems the higher the fuel prices go, the better the DOW. I would expect the DOW to continue straight up as the mood of the country heads straight down. Weird.
Mine too. I’m locking in, that is to say cashing out, some of those gains tomorrow. It’s DLP big screen time.
But, but, but... the economy is slowing, the housing market is flat, and blah-blah-blah....
Crash?
...
The Dow’s P/E is around 16. The S&P’s P/E is about 17.
A far, far cry from the stratospheric valuations during the Clinton Bubble.
This is a real bull, not over-inflated hype.
IBBF!
It might be on some front pages as it was when it hit 13,000, but the accompanying story will tell how meaningless the number was and how we're all in a terrible state. That was virtually the AP (natch) storyline I read in my local lib rag. The message they were sending was : The Dow hit 13,000 and most Americans are richer, SO WHAT!! Except they left out the Americans are richer part. It doesn't square with their agenda of depicting most Americans as being one paycheck away from begging on the streets.
In fact after mentioning the new record, they implied that bad times were coming. Libs are always ready to rain (or something more vulgar) on anything that conflicts with their idea that only government sponsored subsidies can help people.
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