Dow Sprints Past 7,800, Settles At 7,777.06

Investors pushed broad stock averages to new highs Thursday but left the Dow Jones industrials just shy of a record, as traders adjusted portfolios ahead of today’s “triple witching” day.

The market rose in the morning, helped by some economic reports showing that inflation may be under control and by an analyst’s ultra-bullish forecast. At one point, the Dow sprinted past 7,800 before settling at the close. Mostly technical factors were at play.

“We do have a lot of musical chairs going on with the futures trading and the options expirations of today and tomorrow,” said Bob Dickey, a technical analyst at Dain Bosworth Inc. “The triple witching tends to exaggerate any kind of trend that you already have in place in the market.”

The market often is subjected to wide swings each quarter as portfolios are realigned in advance of the expiration of futures and options contracts on stocks and stock indexes, an event known as triple witching day.

The Dow average ended at 7,777.54, up 58.35 points and just short of its closing record of 7,782.04 reached last Friday.

Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by more than 2 to 1 on the New York Stock Exchange, where volume totaled 536.92 million shares as of 4 p.m., up from 491.68 million on Wednesday.

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

NYSE

Philip Morris rose 2 to 47-1/2.

RJR Nabisco rose 1-3/8 to 35-7/8.

Loews Corp. rose 1-7/8 to 106-5/8.

Culbro rose 5-1/4 to 145-1/4.

Attorneys general inched closer to a historic settlement with the tobacco industry regarding liability for health problems.

Gateway 2000 rose 1 to 33.

The stock fell 1-3/4 Wednesday after the company said late Tuesday that second-quarter revenue would fall short of expectations.

UAL Corp. fell 2-3/8 to 71-7/8.

Delta Air Lines Inc. fell 1 to 88-1/4.

AMR Corp. fell 2 to 93-1/4.

Shares of three major airlines fell in early trading after Goldman Sachs & Co. downgraded the stocks, according to market sources.

NASDAQ

Adobe Systems fell 4-1/4 to 36.

Seven brokerage firms, including Morgan Stanley and UBS Securities, downgraded the stock after the company late Wednesday announced second-quarter earnings of 54 cents a share, up from 29 cents a year ago.

Republic Industries Inc. rose 1-3/4 to 25-1/2.

The stock jumped more than 7 percent after its AutoNation USA used-car superstores unit signed a supply and services pact with Pep Boys - Manny Moe & Jack. Terms were not disclosed.