Dow Jumps To New Record High

Stocks resumed their record-setting march Tuesday, quickly brushing off a series of profit warnings by leading technology companies that threatened to derail Wall Street’s two-month rally.

The Dow Jones industrial average rose 75.98 to 8,643.12, easily topping the previous record of 8,584.83 set a week earlier, and extending this year’s advance to 9.3 percent.

Broader stock indicators also bounced back from Monday’s down-turn, which produced only marginal damage outside the technology group.

The Standard & Poor’s 500 and the New York Stock Exchange composite index both set new highs, while the technology-heavy Nasdaq composite index recovered most of Monday’s 1.6 percent loss.

The Dow has risen more than 1,000 points, or 14 percent, since plunging 220 points on Jan. 9 amid concerns about how much U.S. companies are being hurt by the economic crisis in Asia.

“The market keeps having lots of spears thrown at it, and yet it won’t be knocked down. Instead, money continues to flow in regardless of the news backdrop,” said Bob Dickey, managing director of technical analysis at Dain Rauscher in Minneapolis.

Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by nearly a 2-to-1 margin on the New York Stock Exchange, where volume totaled a brisk 631.43 million shares as of 4 p.m., up from 623.77 million Monday.

Some of the stocks that moved substantially or traded heavily Tuesday:

NYSE

AT&T, up 1-7/16 at 62-11/16.

Citicorp’s Citibank awarded AT&T’s network-outsourcing unit a five-year contract valued at $750 million.

Pentacon, up at 12-1/6 from IPO at 10.

The distributor of fasteners for original equipment manufacturers sold 5.2 million common shares at $10 each in an initial public offering.

Continental Airlines class A, up 4-3/8 at 61-3/4.

Continental Airlines class B, up 3-1/8 at 59-3/8.

Morgan Stanley Dean Witter raised its rating on the carrier to “strong buy” from “outperform” based on expectations of higher first-quarter revenues and lower fuel prices, Dow Jones News Service reported.

NASDAQ

Aseco, down 1-3/8 at 8-1/8.

The company warned that it will post disappointing results for its fourth quarter ending March 29 due to softness in the semiconductor market. Aseco said weak demand from the telecommunications and computer industries led to a slow-down in bookings.