While the swell of optimism surrounding the Dow Jones industrial average helped shares of about a quarter of the companies listed on the Standard & Poor's 500 index cruise to new levels, many of the day's records were set with relatively small share price increases that followed several days or weeks of steady gains.
One of the day's biggest winners was Home Depot Inc. While its shares closed up less than 1 percent, its Tuesday peak of $70.97 marked an all-time high. In recent months, the home improvement retailer has gotten a boost from the slight rebound in the housing industry and in the days since it announced better-than-expected quarterly results, the company's shares have risen about 10 percent.
Arguably the most notable technology company to hit an all-time high was Google Inc., whose shares rose as much as 2 percent to $840.15 in heavy trading, easily surpassed their previous peak of $822.84 reached the day before.
The company has posted significant gains in recent months amid renewed confidence in its ability to reap steadily and higher profits from its dominance of Internet search and prominence in the mobile device market. Since the beginning of this year, Google shares have gained about 18 percent.
Software maker Intuit Inc. also hit an all-time high, adding to a run
that began late last month after it reported strong earnings despite a
delayed start to the tax preparation season. Since then, shares of the maker
of QuickBooks, Quicken and TurboTax have risen about 8 percent. Also on
Tuesday, shares of Adobe Systems Inc., which makes Photoshop photo-editing
software, rose to their highest price since September 2008.
J.M. Smucker Co., General Mills Inc. and Kellogg Co. were among the food
companies to hit all-time highs. Smucker's peak marked a fifth-straight day
of record highs. Over the past year, the company's shares have gained about
26 percent.
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Meanwhile, General Mills shares advanced past an all-time high that
was set on Friday. The company, which makes breakfast staples such
as Cheerios cereal and Yoplait yogurt, has seen its shares increase
about 11 percent over the past month. Rival Kellogg's record high
was its second straight. Its shares are up about 10 percent this
year.
Shares of aerospace and defense giant Boeing Co. reached levels not seen
since 2011, and industrial companies also posted significant records, with
3M Co., Danaher Corp., Airgas Inc., Roper Industries Inc. and Genuine Parts
Co. all hitting all-time highs.
[Associated
Press; By BREE FOWLER]
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