Stocks Finish Mixed as Indicators Remain Near Their Record Highs
The stock market followed a familiar pattern yesterday -- holding its lofty ground while analysts and traders predicted that at least a minor correction is near.</br></br>"The market has this unbelievable resiliency that is amazing everybody," one trader said of yesterday's mixed showing.</br></br>The Dow Jones Industrial Average started the session with a gain of nearly 6 points in the first half hour of trading. It then back-tracked slightly into negative territory before closing up 0.23 at 1439.22 -- less than a point below the all-time high set Monday. Chart watchers have to go back to Oct. 2 to find a decline of more than 6 points in the average.</br></br>Broader market measures reflected yesterday's mixed results. Declining New York Stock Exchange issues edged advancing stocks 802 to 759 as volume slipped to 105.1 million shares from 126.1 million Tuesday.</br></br>But Standard & Poor's 500-stock index and the Big Board's composite index had small gains, each closing within a fraction of their all-time highs set last week.