Dow Hits Highest Level, 2439 Points, Since Crash; Dollar Also Scores Some Record Gains
The stock market surged to a new post-crash high in heavy trading today after the government's April wholesale price report. The dollar also rose to its highest levels in nine months.</br></br>The Dow Jones average of 30 industrials soared 56.82 points to end the week at 2439.70, its highest level since the October 1987 stock market collapse and the biggest daily gain since a 74.68-point rise on May 31, 1988. The Dow industrials' previous post-crash high was 2418.99 at the close on April 27.</br></br>Broader market indicators also rose sharply. Advancing issues outnumbered declining ones by about 10 to 3 in nationwide trading of New York Stock Exchange-listed issues.</br></br>In one of the wildest sessions in recent memory, the dollar rose to its highest levels in nine months despite an aggressive attack by at least seven major central banks.</br></br>Traders used words like "mind-boggling" and "bizarre" to describe a trading day that ended with the dollar at its highest levels against the West German mark and the Japanese yen since last August.