Dow And S&P 500 Reach New Record Closing Highs

(RTTNews) - After initially showing a lack of direction, stocks moved mostly higher over the course of the trading day on Wednesday. The gains on the day extended yesterday's upward move and lifted the Dow and the S&P 500 to new record closing highs.

While most of the major sectors moved to the upside on the day, gold stocks posted particularly strong gains. Reflecting the strength in the gold sector, the NYSE Arca Gold Bugs Index surged up by 2.8 percent.

The rally by gold stocks came amid an increase by the price of the precious metal, with gold for February delivery climbing $9.30 to $1,208.70 an ounce.

Significant strength was also visible among steel stocks, as reflected by the 2.3 percent gain posted by the NYSE Arca Steel Index. The index regained some ground after ending the previous session at its lowest closing level in well over a year.

Oil service stocks also rebounded following recent weakness, with the Philadelphia Oil Service Index jumping by 2.1 percent. The gain by the index came after it ended Tuesday's trading at a two-year low.

Semiconductor, railroad, networking, and brokerage stocks also saw considerable strength amid broad based buying interest.

The major averages pulled back off their best levels going into the close but still ended the day in positive territory. The Dow edged up 33.07 points or 0.2 percent to 17,912.62, the Nasdaq climbed 18.66 points or 0.4 percent to 4,774.47 and the S&P 500 rose 7.78 points or 0.4 percent to 2,074.33.