NEW YORK — The stock market's rally plodded along Thursday, sustained by sharp gains in financial and industrial shares.
Major indexes overcame early losses and finished slightly higher, including the Dow Jones industrial average, which added 37 points to set a new 2009 high. The Dow has risen for eight straight trading sessions, its longest positive streak since April 2007.
Trading lacked enthusiasm, however, as it has over the past week, with many investors shying away from making greater commitments to stocks.
Volume has been light as many traders take vacations, adding to the market's recent choppiness. The day's economic news, including a slightly smaller-than expected dip in initial unemployment claims and a benign reading on gross domestic product, did little to excite investors.
Analysts say the market has been running on its own momentum more than anything else, adding that a lot of the improving economic data has already been priced into stocks.
A lot of activity has also been driven by short-covering, analysts say, which tends to amplify gains in the market. Short-covering occurs when investors have to buy stock after having earlier sold borrowed shares in a bet they would fall.
Traders have been anticipating a pullback for weeks, but the dips that have occurred tend to be met with more buying.
"There is just too much cash sitting on the sidelines," said Phil Orlando, chief equity market strategist at Federated Investors.
After giving up as much as 84 points early on, the Dow rose 37.11, or 0.4 percent, to close at 9,580.63.The Dow's eight-session advance totals 445 points, or 4.9 percent.
The Standard & Poor's 500 index rose 2.86, or 0.3 percent, to 1,030.98, while the Nasdaq composite index rose 3.30, or 0.2 percent, to 2,027.73.
Both the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq composite indexes have finished higher seven out of the past eight sessions, rising about 5 percent over that period.
About eight stocks rose for every seven that fell on the New York Stock Exchange, where consolidated volume topped 5.8 billion shares, up from 5.1 billion at the close on Wednesday.
Despite the run-up in stocks, investors are nervous about overextending the market's massive spring and summer rally, in which stocks have risen more than 45 percent off of 12-year lows since early March.
"You tend to have those moves run out of steam at some time,"said Art Hogan, chief market analyst at Jefferies & Co.
Shares of American International Group Inc. surged nearly 27 percent, rising $10.15 to $47.84, as analysts speculated the company might be reconciling with former Chief Executive Officer Maurice "Hank" Greenberg, who could help bring private capital to the company. AIG shares have more than doubled in eight days.
Crude oil for October delivery added $1.06 to settle at $72.49 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
Bond prices were mostly lower even after a strong auction of seven-year notes. The yield on the 10-year note rose to 3.46 percent from 3.44 percent.
The dollar was mixed, while gold prices inched higher.
In other trading, the Russell 2000 index of smaller companies slipped 0.25, or 0.04 percent, to 583.77.
Business, Pages 30 on 08/28/2009