NEW YORK (AP) - The Dow Jones industrial average topped its record-high close this morning, reaching a milestone in Wall Street's recovery from nearly seven years of corporate upheaval, economic recession and the impact of terrorism. The high close was 11,722.98 set on Jan. 14, 2000. Lifted by growing optimism about stable interest rates and a soft landing for the economy, the Dow rose to 11,724.86 in morning trading, before slipping back to 11,701.96. It faced one more milestone, its intraday high of 11,750.28, before it could move into uncharted territory.
Wall Street's other two widely followed indexes, the Standard & Poor's 500 and the Nasdaq composite, lagged the Dow although they also reached closing highs around the same time.
The S&P, up 0.69, at 1,337.28, is still 190.18 points below its closing high of 1,527.46, although it is trading at a 5 1/2-year high.
The Nasdaq, up 2.32 at 2,265.71, is not expected to approach its high close of 5,048.62 any time soon
The economic news of the day was mixed. While jobless claims fell, dropping close to economists' expectations, the Commerce Department revised its gross domestic product number for spring lower, to 2.6 percent from 2.9 percent.
The number of new people signing up for unemployment benefits dropped last week. The Labor Department reported Thursday that new applications filed for unemployment insurance declined by a seasonally adjusted 6,000 to 316,000 for the work week ending Sept. 23. The latest showing on claims was close to economists' expectations for claims to total around 315,000 last week.
