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  • Dow surges anew

    Dow surges anew
    Blue chips deliver again, build on 10,000. All 3 major indexes post weekly gains.
    December 12, 2003: 5:44 PM EST
    By Alexandra Twin, CNN/Money Staff Writer


    NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - U.S. stocks closed higher on the session Friday and for the week, with the Dow industrials managing to sustain and muscle above 10,000, a key psychological barrier.

    The Dow Jones industrial average (up 34.00 to 10042.16, Charts), the S&P 500 (up 2.93 to 1074.14, Charts) and the Nasdaq composite (up 6.68 to 1949.00, Charts) all gained around 0.3 percent on the session.

    The averages were shaky in the morning, as investors absorbed a weaker-than-expected first read on December consumer sentiment from the University of Michigan. But momentum built up throughout the afternoon, with the Dow and the S&P 500 managing to close at fresh 18-month highs for the second session in a row.

    The Dow closed Friday at its best level since May 24, 2002, when it closed at 10,104.26, while the S&P 500 closed at its best level since May 28, 2002, when it closed at 1,074.55.

    The Dow and the S&P 500 both closed higher for the third week in a row, while the Nasdaq closed higher for the second week in three.

    For the week, the Dow added 1.8 percent, the S&P 500 added 1.2 percent and the Nasdaq composite added 0.6 percent.

    The market rally's big driver this year, the Nasdaq, of late has been losing steam, said Barry Ritholtz, a market strategist at Maxim Group, and that's a trend that could continue next week and through the end of the year.

    "People are looking at this huge run a lot of these stocks have had and are thinking that maybe now is the time to rotate into some of the sectors that have more room to gain," Ritholtz said. "On the Dow, some of the cyclicals have gotten ahead of themselves, 3M for example. You're going to need the heavy lifters like GM or GE to start showing the leadership."

    This rotational switch is especially likely to kick in during early January, Ritholtz added, with some investors holding this year's winners until the start of 2004 so they can put off paying taxes on any sales.

    "Whether we build on the 10,000 or not, I think the market is in good shape and I expect it to keep moving higher through the end of the year," said Jon Burnham, portfolio manager at Burnham Securities.

    For the first time in weeks, a big market-moving earnings report is due Monday. After the close of trade, business software behemoth Oracle (ORCL: Research, Estimates) is expected to post earnings of 11 cents per share, a penny more than a year earlier, according to Reuters Research.

    Monday's only economic report is the NY Empire State index, a regional manufacturing read that can often have an impact on trade in the early going. The December index, due out before trading begins, is expected to fall to 35.0 from 41.0 last month.

    Reports are due later in the week on consumer prices, building permits and housing starts, among others.

    http://money.cnn.com/2003/12/12/mark...york/index.htm
    "Every man has his weakness. Mine was always just cigarettes."
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