Wall Street has best February in 14 years
Specialists James Ahrens, left, and Robert Tuccillo work at their New York Stock Exchange posts Tuesday, as the Dow Jones industrial average headed to a record close, above 13,000 points. (Feb. 28, 2012) Credit: AP
The Nasdaq composite index briefly touched 3,000 yesterday for the first time since the collapse in dot-com stocks in 2000. Stocks ended lower, but it was still the best February on Wall Street in 14 years.
The milestone for the tech-heavy Nasdaq came a day after the Dow Jones industrial average closed above 13,000 for the first time since May 2008.
The Nasdaq last hit 3,000 on Dec. 13, 2000. Its last close above 3,000 was two days earlier. It was only above 3,000 for seconds Wednesday before closing down 19.87 points at 2,966.89.
The Dow lost 53.05 to close at 12,952.07. The Standard & Poor's 500 index lost 6.50 points to close at 1,365.68.
For the month, the Dow gained 2.5 percent, the S&P 4.1 percent and the Nasdaq 5.4 percent. The last time the stock market had such a strong February was in 1998, when the S&P gained 7 percent.
Stocks opened higher after the government said the economy grew faster at the end of last year than previously estimated -- a 3 percent annual rate, the best reading since the spring of 2010.
Stocks fell sharply after about an hour, then recovered by mid-afternoon, after the Federal Reserve's survey of regional economic conditions said the economy strengthened in the first six weeks of the year. -- AP
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