Stocks hit record levels again Monday and the Dow Jones industrial average reached its third straight all-time high, tantalizing Wall Streeters by closing within a hair of 3,000 for the first time. But trading was light in what some strategists regarded as an uncertain market. Many investors didn't participate and some expressed cynicism about an obsession with the behavior of the Dow index, which can move sharply if any one of its 30 big-name components rises or falls in one large trade. The best-known stock barometer, which has risen nearly 100 points this month and briefly forayed aboved 3,000 for the first time Friday, remained in that territory for much of the session Monday. But it weakened in a bout of selling in the late afternoon and finished at 2,999.75, up 19.55. ``It's just another number, another barrier,'' said Peter J. DaPuzzo, head of world equities for Lehman Brothers in New York. Philip Rettew, a vice president at Merrill Lynch & Co., called the Dow-3,000 barrier ``about as important as your 50th birthday.'' Strategists said buying was largely motivated by the influences that drove the market last week and pushed the Dow index to record closes Thursday and Friday: indications that the Federal Reseve was easing interest rates to forestall a recession, and an improved outlook for corporate earnings. International Business Machines's announcement of higher-than-expected second-quarter earnings Monday bolstered the optimism and set the tone for much of the day. Some other leading companies also reported strong earnings results. ``The market's come a long way. It barreled ahead, got tired and backed away,'' said Lawrence Wachtel, a senior strategist for Prudential Bache Securities Inc. ``And then there's the Dow 3,000, oh boy,'' he said. ``Some people feel 2,999.75 is the pits, but 3,000.15 would be salvation. There's too much hype about it.'' Some brokers said events that could have hurt the market, like a weakening dollar and word of a drastically higher federal budget deficit, had little or no influence on stock prices, an indication of market strength. But others said the market's indecisive move higher, as reflected in the Dow average's inability to close above 3,000, showed that many investors are nervous and unwilling to commit money to stocks. ``The only thing that worries me is the lack of volume,'' said Blake Stephens, vice president of over-the-counter trading at Interstate Johnson Lane Securities in Charlotte, N.C. ``If it closes above 3,000 with good volume, you'll see come money come out of the woodwork.'' Advancing issues outnumbered declines by about 4 to 3 in nationwide trading of New York Stock Exchange-listed stocks, with 868 up, 678 down and 495 unchanged. Volume on the floor of the Big Board came to 149.43 million shares, down substantially from the 215.60 million traded the previous session. Among the most prominent issues was IBM, which announced before the market opened that second-quarter earnings rose 5.2 percent from a year earlier, better than many had expected. IBM finished at 122&rsqb;, up 1&rsqb;. Other technology stocks also did well on strong second-quarter earnings results. NCR, which said earnings advanced 5 percent to a record, jumped 3~ to 68. Banking stocks, considered vulnerable because of the weak real estate market in much of the country, also did surprisingly well on better-than expected earnings results. J.P. Morgan rose 2&lsqb; to 37~, and NCNB rose 1} to 36{. But Chase Manhattan, one of the biggest banking companies, fell { to 20} in heavy trading after reporting a 62 percent drop in second-quarter results. Nationwide, consolidated volume in NYSE-listed issues, including trades in those stocks on regional exchanges and in the over-the-counter market, totaled 183.86 million shares. As measured by Wilshire Associates' index of more than 5,000 actively traded stocks, the market rose $12.67 billion, or 0.36 percent, in value. The NYSE's composite index of all its listed common stocks rose 0.80 to 201.13. Standard & Poor's industrial index rose 1.99 to 437.37, and S&P's 500-stock composite index hit a record 368.95, up 1.64, eclipsing the 367.40 record set June 4. The NASDAQ composite index for the over-the-counter market rose 1.16 to 469.60. At the American Stock Exchange, the market value index rose 1.59 to 365.58.
