NEW YORK -- The Dow Jones industrial average crossed 11,000 Monday for the first time since before the 9/11 terrorist attacks, buoyed by a rally that has sent stock prices soaring through the first five sessions of 2006.\nWall Street's best known stock indicator rose as high as 11,020.15 by mid-afternoon, the first time since June 13, 2001, that the index of 30 blue chip stocks traded above 11,000. It last closed above that milestone on June 7, 2001, when it stood at 11,090.74.\nMonday's advance followed a 241-point surge last week as investors grew increasingly optimistic that the Federal Reserve will soon end its string of interest rate hikes. Investment firms' upgrades of Dow components General Motors Corp. and JPMorgan Chase & Co. also helped carry the index past 11,000 Monday.\n"It sends a signal that the U.S. economy has weathered some pretty harsh storms over the past few years and in recent months," said Art Hogan, chief investment strategist at Jefferies & Co.\nHogan said heightened clarity about the Fed's rate tightening, stabilizing oil prices and new investment money from 401(k) and pension funds have contributed to the market's gains in the new year.\n"We probably can hold onto it," he said. "If companies can continue to weather this energy surge, operate in a higher interest rate environment and create jobs, the market should be able to continue this rise."\nIn midafternoon trading, the Dow was up 44.99, or 0.41 percent, at 11,004.30.\nBroader stock indicators were at their own highest levels since May 2001. The Standard & Poor's 500 index was up 4.09, or 0.32 percent, at 1,289.54, and the Nasdaq composite index rose 13.05, or 0.57 percent, to 2,318.67.\nBonds fell slightly, with the yield on the 10-year Treasury note rising to 4.38 percent from 4.37 percent Friday. The dollar was higher against most major currencies, while gold prices rebounded.\nCrude oil and natural gas futures dropped amid mild winter weather across the country. A barrel of light crude lost 96 cents to $63.25 on the New York Mercantile Exchange, where natural gas slipped 32 cents to $9.31 per 1,000 cubic feet.\nThe Dow came within 16 points of 11,000 last March 7, but fell back amid worries about inflation and higher oil prices, concerns that dogged the market for much of 2005.
The blue chips are still more than 6 percent below their all-time high of 11,722.98, reached Jan. 14, 2000, as the high-tech boom approached its peak, but they have recovered well from their low of 7,286.27, reached on Oct. 9, 2002, while the nation wrestled with an economic slowdown spurred by the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon the year before.\nThe markets rebounded strongly in 2003, then posted modest gains in 2004. The Dow ended 2005 with a slight loss while the other major indexes edged higher; every time stocks made a significant advance last year, concerns about the impact of record high oil and gasoline prices on inflation, consumer spending and corporate profits sent the market retreating.\nBut investors' mood changed radically last week with the release of minutes from the Fed's last policy-making meeting, during which the Open Market Committee signaled that its streak of rate hikes dating back to the summer of 2004 would soon end.\nGoldman Sachs analysts on Monday raised GM one notch to "in-line," saying the a bankruptcy filing at the world's biggest automaker is "very unlikely anytime soon," and that upcoming catalysts could improve investor sentiment. GM jumped $1.40 to $22.20.\nJPMorgan Chase was up 64 cents at $40.66 after its upgrade by Prudential Equity Group, which issued an improved outlook for investment banking and asset management firms.
