DOW JONES AVERAGE HITS 6,000 MILESTONE TWICE

Where were you at Dow 1,000?

How about Dow 2,000, 3,000, or 4,000?

It may be hard to believe that the Dow Jones Industrial Average floated under the 1,000 mark for 76 years before reaching the milestone on Nov. 14, 1972.

Now, less than a quarter-century later, the Dow has surged into record territory again, topping the 6,000 mark for the first time in history, and less than a year after first topping the 5,000 mark in late November of 1995.

The Dow bobbed above 6,000 twice briefly early Monday morning as stocks opened higher following through on a Friday rally.

The Dow passed the 6,000 mark at 9:42 a.m. on gains that brought the famed blue-chip barometer to 6,002.17, but retreated quickly to 5,994. Following one more hike above the 6,000 mark just prior to 10 a.m., the market pulled back slightly to close at 5,979.81 at day's end.

Some analysts said it was natural for the market to pause after Friday's big rally, which was spurred by convincing evidence that the economy may be slowing enough to contain inflation without the Federal Reserve raising interest rates.

On Friday, the Dow jumped 60 points after the government reported that unemployment unexpectedly edged higher in September from a seven-year low in August.

That eased worries about potential inflation from rising production costs, and helped validate the Federal Reserve's decision two weeks ago not to slow the economy by raising the central bank's key lending rates.

A number of Cape Girardeau stock brokers recall when the Dow hit 2,000.

"That was January 27, 1987," said Joe Domian of Edward D. Jones & Co., 1749-I Independence. "It was at about 1,200 when I started."

Steve Schneider and Martha Limbaugh, both of A.G. Edwards & Sons Inc., 97 N. Kingshighway, also watched the Dow hit 2,000.

And retired stock broker Frank Worley recalls the day it hit 1,000.

"I don't recall the exact date," said Worley, who worked with Reingold-Gardner and later Shearson, retiring in 1990.

The move past 6,000 extends a dramatic 800-point rebound from July's steep decline.

"The Dow was at 5,800 at one time in July," said Schneider. "But it dropped to about 5,100 during the same month, before starting back up."

"There were some doom and gloom feelings in the stock market in July," said Domian. "A lot of people weren't buying. The economy didn't go down the tank, workers were producing more and things started looking up."

Neither Domian nor Schneider expects to see big continued increases over the next year.

"Historically, things slow down following a presidential election," said Domian. "I'd say that 6,400 to 6,500 would be a good increase through 1997. That's about 10 percent."

"It may increase short-term," said Schneider, "But long-term we see the market remaining from 5,700 to 5,900 over the next year."

Declining issues outnumbered advancers by a small margin on the New York Stock Exchange Monday, where volume came to 256.71 million shares, down from Friday afternoon's pace.

The Standard & Poor's 500 list was up 0.59 at 703.05, padding Friday's record advance, which put the index above 700 for the first time.

The NYSE composite index, which also set a new high on Friday, was up 0.58 at 374.74; and the American Stock Exchange's market value index was up 2.33 at 582.22.

The Nasdaq composite -- laden with technology and other more volatile shares that had lagged behind the market's rebound from July -- was up 3.31 at 1,250.87, having surrendered an early advance into record territory. The index, which last set a new high with June 5's close at 1,249.15, was dragged as low as 1,008 during July's rout.