Dow Tops Record, Then Retreats to Close Up 9
A late burst of profit-taking and other quarter-ending portfolio shifts cut into a broad advance today, but some stock measures edged high enough to set records.</br></br>The Dow Jones industrial average was up 9.25 points at 5882.17 at the close, having retreated from a 30-point gain that would have broken last Monday's record of 5894.74.</br></br>Most broad measures withstood the late selling to end the day higher. Much of the session's volatility was attributed to last-minute positioning by money managers trying to put a shine on their quarter-ending reports to investors.</br></br>"There's a lot of money moving around, but a pretty nice tone," said Andrew M. Brooks, vice president in charge of equity trading at T. Rowe Price Associates in Baltimore.</br></br>The Standard & Poor's 500-stock index and the New York Stock Exchange composite index reached record highs. But the Nasdaq Stock Market pulled lower as investors secured profits from the technology sector, which bounced back to life in September after lagging the rebound from July's rout.