Dow Reaches New Record Closing High With Modest Gain

(RTTNews) - Stocks fluctuated throughout much of the trading session on Thursday after failing to sustain an early upward move. The major averages spent the day bouncing back and forth across the unchanged line before closing modestly higher.

The early strength on Wall Street partly reflected a positive reaction to the latest corporate news, including quarterly results from retail giant Wal-Mart (WMT).

Buying interest waned not long after the open, however, with concerns about the markets being overbought helping to limit the upside.

The subsequent pullback by the markets reflected substantial weakness among energy stocks, which moved lower along with the price of crude oil.

Crude for December delivery plunged $2.97 to a four-year low of $74.21 a barrel amid news of an increase in stockpiles at a key U.S. delivery point.

While energy stocks managed to regain some ground, the NYSE Arca Oil & Gas Index and the NYSE Arca Natural Gas Index still fell by 1.9 percent and 2.1 percent, respectively.

Gold stocks also came under pressure on the day, dragging the NYSE Arca Gold Bugs Index down by 1.9 percent. The weakness in the sector came despite a modest increase by the price of gold.

On the other hand, software stocks showed a notable move to the upside, resulting in a 1 percent gain by the Dow Jones Software Index. The gain lifted the index to its best closing level since 2000.

While the Dow closed well off its intraday high, the blue chip index still rose 40.59 points or 0.2 percent to a new record closing high of 17,652.79. The Nasdaq edged up 5.01 points or 0.1 percent to 4,680.14, and the S&P 500 inched up 1.08 points or 0.1 percent to 2,039.33.