Stocks edge higher in pre-holiday trading

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, rose after it reported earnings above Wall Street projections late Monday.

“We’ve been seeing a slow down 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.”

The Dow rose 5.05, or 0.04 percent, to 12,321.59.

Broader stock indicators also edged higher. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index was up 2.31, or 0.16 percent, at 1,402.81, and the Nasdaq composite index rose 2.12, or 0.09 percent, to 2,454.84.

Bonds edged higher with the yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note falling to 4.58 percent from 4.60 percent on Monday. The dollar was mixed against other major currencies, while 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.

Richard Cripps, chief market strategist for Stifel Nicolaus, said the choppy market conditions are common at this point in the year. However, he warned that investors should not count out big price moves as volume on the New York Stock Exchange is still about 10 percent below normal levels.

“I won’t go so far as to say investors should cancel holiday plans with the family to watch the final tick on Wednesday,” he said, “but I’d say this week still present fresh opportunities. Friday will obviously be much less.”

Consolidated volume on the New York Stock Exchange came to 2.62 billion shares, compared to 2.56 billion Monday and 2.72 billion traded Friday.

During Tuesday’s session, advancers led declining issues by about 3 to 2. The stock markets are closed on Thursday and have a half session on Friday, closing at 1 p.m. EST.

Google, whose market value hit $154 billion just eight years after the company was started in a Silicon Valley garage, is now worth more than big technology names such as Intel Corp. and Hewlett-Packard Co.

Also anchoring technology issues was Apple Computer Inc., whose shares rose to a historic high. Shares gained $1.86, or 2.2 percent, to $88.33 as speculation mounted the company will unveil an iPod-based phone sometime next year.

Boeing advanced after the company scored one of its biggest orders this year with Korean Air buying 25 passenger and freighter aircraft. The stock rose $1.98, or 2.2 percent, to $91.10 as the deal was seen as a victory for Boeing over rival Airbus.

The Russell 2000 index of smaller companies rose 1.28, or 0.16 percent, to 791.90.

Overseas, Japan’s Nikkei stock average closed up 0.05 percent. At the close, Britain’s FTSE 100 fell 0.03 percent, Germany’s DAX index advanced 0.12 percent, and France’s CAC-40 rose 0.08 percent.