New York, March 11: US bluechips set their 13th record on Wednesday, soaring on a rally that kicked in the day before, but stopped short of shattering the 8,700-point barrier.The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 32.63 points, or 0.38 per cent, to close at 8,675.75. At mid-day, the Dow reached 8,695 points. The Standard and Poor's 500 index also set a record, rising 4.21 points to 1,068.46.About 657 million shares were traded, gainers outnumbering losers 1,737 to 1,229 with 496 unchanged.
On the bond market, the average yield on the Bellwether 30-year Treasury bond dropped to 5.926 per cent from 5.953 per cent in the expectation of good economic indic ators at the end of the week.
The retail price index was expected to rise between 0.4 per cent and 0.5 per cent and the producer price index to drop by 0.2 per cent.
The consumer price index, excluding the volatile food and energy sectors, was forecast to drop 0.1 per cent.
The market was buoyed by Tuesday's announcement of a $ 13 billion union of two waste treatment giants, Waste Management and USA Waste.
Waste Management shareholders would own about 60 per cent of the combined entity, which at yesterday's closing stock prices would have an aggregate equity market capitalization of more than 20 billion dollars.
Traders stepped up their warnings of a slowdown in an overheated market, which has risen nine percent since January 1. The Standard and Poor's index has risen 9.7 percent.
``The market is running on emotion not reason, proceed with caution,'' warned David Rocker of Rocker Partners. Independent trader Gail Pankey said the Dow started to lose its momentum as it got closer to 8,700 points.
More and more analysts are expecting a market correction, or at the very least apause, to take place by the end of February, after which the Dow would go back up at the beginning of summer, following the same trend the index took last year.
Copyright © 1998 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
