Dow tops 15,600, falls back to record 15,567.74 at close

The blue-chip Dow Jones industrial average topped 15,600 for the first time in mid-day trading, then settled down to close at a record 15,567.74 Tuesday. The closing high came after a late skid. A little after 3 p.m., the index hit a record 15,604 points, an all time Everest for the index. The Standard & Poor's 500 notched loss of 3.14 points or 0.19 percent to 1,692.39. The Nasdaq composite index gave up 21.11 points or 0.59 percent to close at 3,579.27. On the New York Stock Exchange 1,741 issues advanced while 1,322 declined on volume of 3 billion shares. The 10-year treasury note fell 7/32 to yield 2.508 percent. Japan's Nikkei index added 0.82 percent or 120.47 points to 14,778.51. Hong Kong's Hang Seng index gained 498.92 points or 2.33 percent to close at 21,915.42. London's FTSE 100 lost 25.73 points or 0.39 percent to close at 6,597.44. Germany's DAX lost 16.83 points or 0.2 percent to close at 8,314.23 and the French CAC 40 shed 16.83 or 0.43 percent to close at 3,923.09. In after-hours trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange, crude oil was up 29 cents at $107.23 a barrel. Gold gained $6.50 to close at $1,343.80 per troy ounce on the NYMEX Comex division while silver lost 7.4 cents to close at $20.435. On currency markets, the euro was lower at $1.3224. Against the yen, the dollar rose to 99.47 yen. On the Chicago Board of Trade, December corn was off 11 to $4.87, November soybeans were off 28 1/2 to settle at $12.60 and September wheat was off 6 3/4 to $6.53.