New York – Wall Street drifted to a slightly higher finish Tuesday as investors shied away from taking new positions in a holiday-shortened week. Despite the market’s languid tone, Google Inc. surpassed $500 for the first time.
Investors’ hesitation came after Wall Street snapped a six-session winning streak on Monday, concerned that a recent run-up has driven some stocks too high. No big moves were expected before Thanksgiving, although retailers remain in focus ahead of one of the biggest shopping days of the year on Friday.
But investors still put more money into the nation’s No. 1 search engine. Google rallied more than 2 percent to a new record, hitting an intraday high of $509.88. Shares have soared since the company priced its initial public offering at $85 a share in August 2004.
Boeing Co. led the Dow Jones industrials after the aerospace company received a $5.5 billion order for planes from Korean Air Lines Co. Also, Medtronic Inc., the biggest maker of heart defibrillators, saw a rise after it reported earnings above Wall Street projections late Monday.
“We’ve been seeing a slowdown trickle in volume over the past few days because of the holiday,” said Scott Fullman, director of investment strategy for Hapoalim Securities USA. “The market is just holding here, trying to work off a little bit of its overbought conditions that resulted from the rise that we’ve had over the past month or so.”
According to preliminary calculations, the Dow rose 5.05, or 0.04 percent, to 12,321.59.
Broader indicators also edged higher. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index was up 2.31, or 0.16 percent, to 1,402.81, and the Nasdaq rose 2.12, or 0.09 percent, to 2,454.84. The dollar was mixed against other major currencies; gold prices rose.
Oil closed higher, with a barrel of light sweet crude up $1.37 at $60.17 on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
