Blue Chips Surge On Economic Data
Stocks rose today as blue chips surged on encouraging economic data, but concerns about a second-half earnings slowdown kept technology stocks from broader gains.</br></br>The Dow Jones industrial average closed 119.04 points higher at 11,027.80, marking the first time since April 25 that the blue-chip index has finished above 11,000. Today's surge gave the Dow a gain of 260.05 for the week.</br></br>Broader indicators also rose. The Standard & Poor's 500-stock index was up 11.59 at 1471.84, and the Nasdaq composite index rose 29.48, to 3789.47, having recovered from a decline of 60 points earlier in the session. The S&P was up 8.91 for the week, while the Nasdaq eked out a gain of 2.11.</br></br>Analysts said a pattern has emerged recently in which investors react to whatever news is released on a given day, causing markets to fluctuate from session to session.</br></br>Today, for instance, investors in blue chips were encouraged by a Labor Department report that showed wholesale prices were virtually unchanged in July after a large increase in June. The turnabout in the producer price index was the result of a big swing in gasoline and other energy costs.