The Dow lags again, but stocks’ spring rally pushes ahead

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So close, but it just couldn’t finish the job: The Dow Jones industrial average today was on track to erase the last of its 2009 losses, until a sell-off in the final minutes left that milestone barely out of reach.

The Dow gained 31.90 points, or 0.4%, to 8,770.92. That left it down a mere 0.06% from its year-end 2008 close of 8,776.39. It had been up as much as 136 points today before profit-taking set in.

The 30-stock index is the last of the major market gauges still in the red for the year. Others, including the Standard & Poor’s 500, Nasdaq composite and New York Stock Exchange composite already have recouped all of the losses sustained in the market’s dive from January to early March.

The S&P 500 today hit a new 2009 high, adding 5.74 points, or 0.6%, to 944.89. That extended its gain from the 12-year low reached March 9 to 39.7%. It’s up 4.6% for the year -- though still down almost 40% from its record high reached in October 2007.

Stocks overall rallied today as Treasury bond yields finally retreated, after the government finished this week’s sale of $65 billion of longer-term securities. Demand for the 30-year bonds sold today was better than expected.

Economic data, including May retail sales figures, encouraged investors. The relentless rise in oil prices also helped the market by lifting energy-related shares. Chevron Corp., one of the Dow’s members, jumped $1.68, or 2.4%, to $71.90.

Near-term crude oil futures in New York rose $1.25 to $72.58 a barrel, a new eight-month high.

When do climbing oil prices become a problem rather than a help for the stock market? That may be up to consumers, and whether they soon begin to cut back further on other spending because of rising prices at the gas pump.

-- Tom Petruno