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Dow soars, 10,000 nears
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March 11, 1999: 11:37 a.m. ET
Stocks rally strongly, helped by oil and tech issues, healthy economy
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NEW YORK (CNNfn) - Bolstered by the sight of 10,000 on the horizon and helped by rallying oil stocks and strength in the tech sector, Wall Street bulls were hard at work midday Thursday, pushing the Dow and the rest of the market sharply higher.
Shortly before 11:30 a.m. ET the Dow Jones industrial average rallied 120.44 points, or 1.2 percent, to 9,893.28, trading deep into record territory and getting within just over 100 points of 10,000.
On the New York Stock Exchange, advances trounced declines 1,632 to 1,037 as 321 million shares changed hands.
The Nasdaq Composite gained 29.49, or 1.2 percent, to 2,435.49. The S&P 500 index was up 13.85, or 1.1 percent, to 1,300.69, also trading in record territory. (Click here for a look at today's CNNfn market movers)
The bond market was flat, as the effect of the day's economic data, an as-expected reading on retail sales in February, wore off. The benchmark 30-year Treasury bond traded 1/32 of a point higher in price, for a yield of 5.55 percent.
The dollar gained ground against the euro, which suffered pressure from rising oil prices. The dollar also rose against the yen after Japanese Vice Finance Minister Eisuke Sakakibara was reported to have said excessive yen strength is no good for Tokyo.
Oil moves to the front burner
Oil stocks, largely responsible for the Dow's advance to a new record Wednesday, once again took the leadership in the market, charging higher as world oil prices continued to rise.
Oil markets, which have suffered severe declines over the past year, have seen a strong rebound this week amid speculation that the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries will cut production when it meets later this month. Premier OPEC members, like Gulf Arab states, Algeria and Venezuela, as well as Mexico, a non-OPEC oil producer, are said to be supporting output cuts.
Among the Dow components, shares of Chevron (CHV) climbed 3 to 86-1/4 and Exxon (XON) gained 2-9/16 to 75-7/8.
Elsewhere in the sector, BP Amoco (BPA) rallied 6-5/16 to 99-7/16 and Phillips Petroleum (P) advanced 3-3/16 to 45-3/16 amid speculation the company may be a takeover target.
In the oil services niche, shares of Schlumberger (SLB) gained 3/16 to 58-11/16.
Still, analysts were skeptical about the longevity of the oil rally.
"If in fact the OPEC countries can get together and cut supply, that would be great," said Patricia Chadwick, director of U.S. equities at Invesco. "I think what tends to happen is when we hear these kinds of announcements, oil stocks do extremely well and yet the truth is somewhat a little less exciting than what the announcement comes out as. But I think definitely they need to cut supply -- there is a glut of oil around and anything they can do should help the oil stocks."
Technology aims high
In the day's other news, shares of computer distributor Ingram Micro (IM) shed 5/8 to 18 after the company issued a profit warning and said it would cut 1,400 jobs.
But the rest of the tech sector appeared robust. Shares of 3Com (COMS) rose 1-11/16 to 26-5/16 on news the company is teaming up with Microsoft (MSFT) to develop home networking products. Microsoft traded 1-3/4 higher at 163-1/8.
Most other high-tech leaders were higher, with Dow member IBM (IBM) up 2-9/16 to 184-1/16, Intel (INTC) up 1-13/16 to 118-11/16 and Cisco Systems (CSCO) up 2-1/4 to 106-5/8.
Yahoo! (YHOO) gained 9-3/8 to 183 on news it had reached a deal with German telecommunications conglomerate Mannesmann to provide Internet services to Germans via Mannesmann phone lines.
And shares of online service provider America Online (AOL) gained 3-5/16 to 96-1/8 on news regional phone service provider SBC Communications (SBC) will provide high-speed access to AOL in seven states by year-end.
Transportation slows down
The rising cost of oil hit home in the transportation sector, taking the Dow transports index down 6.75 to 3,281.65.
Major airline stocks took minor hits, hurt by the prospects of costlier business, but cushioned by the robust state of the U.S. economy, which should mean more business. American Airlines parent AMR (AMR) eased 3/4 to 56-3/8, Delta Air Lines (DAL) slipped 1-5/8 to 61-3/8 and United Airlines parent UAL (UAL) was down 7/16 to 65-1/16.
Finally, shares of Hughes Electronics (GMH), a separately traded unit of General Motors (GM), rose 3/4 to 48-1/2 despite a warning from the company it could be forced to take a $100 million charge if a proposed deal to sell satellite technology to China fails to get government approval. 
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