Industrials Hit a Post-Crash High Of 2158.96; Other Stocks Languish
NEW YORK -- Blue-chip issues carried the day in the stock market, as the Dow Jones Industrial Average reached its highest level since last October's market crash while the broader market languished in quiet trading.</br></br>The average gained 8.71 to 2158.96, just above its post-crash closing high of 2158.61, set July 5. The advance came on the heels of Friday's 42.50-point rise in the index of 30 industrial stocks, which was triggered by some favorable news on September unemployment.</br></br>In extending that rally, the market had to overcome profit-taking that weighed on prices for much of the session. Most of the gains in blue chips occurred during the afternoon, when trading activity slackened noticeably.</br></br>Big Board volume amounted to 124,660,000 shares, considerably below the 216,390,000 that changed hands Friday amid the market's enthusiasm over the jobless data.</br></br>Traders attributed the slowdown to the Columbus Day holiday, which kept a number of players out of the market. "By and large, it's awful difficult to draw any lasting conclusions from a day that's actually half a day," said Thomas F. Ryan Jr., vice president in charge of block trading at Kidder, Peabody & Co.