Wednesday, March 17, 1999
Dow cracks 10,000, retreats
Milestone came, went in a minute
BY URSULA MILLER
The Cincinnati Enquirer
The Dow Jones Industrial Average topped the historic 10,000 mark Tuesday but finished the tenuous trading session 28.30 points lower at 9930.47.
“I was excited to see it,” said Dan Seiver, an economics professor at Miami University and writer of a financial newsletter. “It was a historic moment but it was just a moment, a single, historic moment.”
Literally. The world's most widely watched stock index hit 10,000 at 9:50 a.m. before peaking at 10,001.78 at 9:51 a.m.
Prescription drugmaker Merck & Co. led the Dow's 13 advancers. But losses for just over half of the 30 stocks in the Dow dragged down the index. American Express Co. lost the most. Coca-Cola was unchanged. Cincinnati-based Procter & Gamble gained 25 cents to close at $91.933/4.
This millennium milestone for the Dow is the latest historic event for the index, following an unprecedented four straight years of double-digit percentage gains. The Dow passed 9000 slightly less than a year ago.
“It is a big psychological event,” said Eva Gilkey Booher, a portfolio manager at Bartlett & Co. “Who would have ever imagined 10,000 five years ago? People would have thought you were crazy.”
The Standard & Poor's 500 Index tracked its more narrow blue chip counterpart Tuesday, notching a new intra-day high of 1311.11 before closing less than a point lower at 1306.36.
Technology stocks advanced meanwhile, but they were unable to post new highs.
DOW AT 10,000
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