DOW WOW! AVERAGE BLOWS PAST 8,000 AMID ROSY ECONOMIC REPORTS.

Byline: David Barboza The New York Times

The stock market, already in the midst of one of the greatest bull runs in history, reached yet another milestone Wednesday.

The Dow Jones industrial average - the most widely followed market gauge - closed above the 8,000-point level for the first time, gaining 63.17 points to close at 8,038.88.

And the broader market, while not crashing through any particular barriers, easily outperformed the Dow. Soaring shares of technology issues sent the Nasdaq composite index up 38.52 points, or 2.5 percent, to 1,580.63 in one of its best sessions of the year and its 10th consecutive record close. The Standard & Poor's 500-stock index rose 10.80 points, to a record 936.56.

The impressive gains this year have come about, analysts say, largely because America is in the midst of a stunning, seven-year long economic expansion. Corporate profits are soaring, unemployment is at a 24-year low, and yet inflation remains benign.

``You've got a favorable earnings trend, a favorable interest rate trend, and investors are feeling pretty good about it,'' said Byron R. Wien, the United States investment strategist at Morgan Stanley & Co. ``This is a market where it looks like everything is going right.''

Wednesday's gains, for instance, came on a day when the government said that the Consumer Price Index rose just 0.1 percent in June. That means that inflation for the first six months of the year rose at its slowest pace in 11 years. That sent bond prices higher Wednesday, with the yield on the benchmark 30-year Treasury tumbling to 6.48 percent - its lowest level since December.

Although many on Wall Street had believed at the end of last year that the best days of this bull market were behind it, investors this year have continued to pour billions of dollars into a booming stock market, sending all of the major indexes to record highs.

Of course, many of Wall Street's seasoned analysts believe that shares are too pricey, and that the fundamentals, although excellent, do not justify the escalating prices. Even more believe the market will end the year below this level.

``I thought we'd have a down year, but I think the chances of that are pretty low now,'' said Wien of Morgan Stanley. ``But I still have a sense of the ominous. I think something negative is brewing; it's just taking longer to come to a boil.''

But investors who heeded such advice over the past two or three years have missed out on a spectacular run.

On Wednesday, the market was bolstered by another batch of strong earnings reports, from companies like General Motors and Lucent Technologies, both of which jumped sharply in the stock market. And as the second-quarter earnings season picks up, investors are becoming even more ebullient.

While Wednesday's session occurred in the middle of summer, when volume is traditionally light, activity was historic - the fifth heaviest trading day ever the Big Board, where advancing issues beat declining ones by a better than 2-to-1 margin.

``This is what is called a melt-up,'' said Charles Pradilla, a market strategist at Cowen & Co. ``I've never seen a rally like this. Every time things seem excessive, more good news chimes in.''

After flirting with the 8,000 level for a week, the Dow finally broke through at 9:40 a.m. Wednesday, 10 minutes after the opening bell, to the cheers of many traders on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange.

Although the Dow was the center attraction Wednesday, technology stocks crowded the market once again. Shares of software giant Microsoft, a bellwether computer issue, rose 9 31/32, to 148 7/16. For the year, Microsoft is up nearly 80 percent, allowing the stock to pass shares of Coca-Cola on Wednesday as the second-largest issue in terms of market value at $178 billion. General Electric, a Dow component stock, is first at $242 billion. GE rose 11 3/16 Wednesday, and is up almost 50 percent this year. Coca-Cola, also a Dow stock, rose -3/4, to 70-7/8, with a total market value of $176 billion.

Part of the technology surge was also due to Intel, which reported better-than-expected earnings after the market closed Tuesday. Shares of Intel rose 7 15/16 Wednesday, to 88-3/8. Dell Computer, on a tear in recent weeks, surged 6-1/2, to 147 15/16, and Compaq Computer, up 35 percent in three weeks, rose 6-1/4, to 133-1/2.

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