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8A Daily News – Tuesday, February 28, 2012 Close but not quite for the The Dow Jones industri- al average narrowly missed 13,000. Again. A burst of selling at the closing bell drove the Dow lower after it hovered around the milestone for most of the afternoon. The average finished the day down a sliver, 0.01 percent, and about 19 points shy of the mark. It was close enough that 9 cents added to the price of each of the 30 stocks in the Dow would have made the difference. And it almost did: American Express lost 14 cents in the last three minutes of trad- ing. Boeing lost a dime in the last two minutes. When trading volume is light — as it was Monday, with 3.6 billion shares exchanged — someone can come in ''with a big sell at the end of the day that can sometimes force it one way or the other,'' said Joe Bell, senior equity analyst at Schaeffer's Investment Research. The Dow broke through 13,000 several times last week but hasn't closed above that level since May 19, 2008, four months before the fall of Lehman Brothers investment bank and the worst of the finan- cial crisis. For the day, the Dow lost 1.44 points and closed at 12,981.51. The Standard & Poor's 500 index rose 1.85 points to 1,367.59, a 3 1/2-year high. The Nasdaq IT'S TAX SEASON! WHY NOT INVEST IN SOMETHING THAT WILL LAST A LIFETIME! $$$ 648 Main St. Downtown Red Bluff TATTOO (530) 528-8288 FIRST LOVE Dow in push for 13,000 Wall Street composite index rose 2.41 points to close at 2,966.16, its highest since December 2000. The Dow fell 100 points at the open Monday, then climbed back above 13,000 after a report that the num- ber of Americans who signed contracts to buy homes rose in January to the highest in almost two years. The National Associa- tion of Realtors said its index of sales agreements rose 2 percent last month to a reading of 97, the highest since April 2010. A read- ing of 100 is considered healthy. Financial stocks led the industries gaining ground Monday. They rose 0.9 per- cent as a group. All nine of the other industry groups in the S&P 500 finished with small gains or narrow loss- es. Scott Wren, senior equi- ty strategist for Wells Fargo Advisors in St. Louis, said investors have gotten ahead of themselves since October. The S&P 500 is up 8.8 percent this year alone. He said he thinks U.S. economic growth is likely to be a mild 2 percent this year, there are fewer people working now than there were at the end of 2007, and Europe may be in a recession. ''I don't see any reason for the market to be on some incredible run,'' he said. The price of oil fell below $109 a barrel as investors booked profits after a 14 percent gain this month driven by signs of an improving U.S. economy and fears of an Iranian sup- ply cut. Benchmark crude fell by $1.21 to end the day at $108.56 per barrel in New York. Brent crude, which is used to price oil that's imported by U.S. refiner- ies, lost $1.30 to finish at $124.17 per barrel in Lon- don. Government figures show that growth in demand for crude oil has slowed in the U.S. from a year earlier, although some oil traders are betting a strengthening economy will eventually boost con- sumption. ''Four dollar gas, that's not going to really shut down the economy,'' Wren said. ''$5, $6 gas, that's a different story.'' The average U.S. price of a gallon of gasoline has jumped 18 cents over the past two weeks. A gallon of regular is $3.70, the highest on record this time of year. Overseas markets fell slightly because of worries about high oil prices. Stocks fell 0.3 percent in Britain, 0.2 percent in Ger- many and 0.7 percent in France. gibbsautobodydsl@chiconet.com 780 EAST AVE. (behind Food Maxx) Since 1950 530-527-2649 WE ACCEPT ALL INSURANCE COMPANIES Voted BEST in Tehama County '06, '07, '08, '09 & '10 We understand you have a choice, thank you for choosing us! up to $800 Instant Cash Discounts available on high efficiency heating & air conditioning systems Instant cash discount ends April 30th 2012 Financing available O.A.C. Some restrictions apply. See dealer for details replacement systems only. No new construction 527-5828 Cal. Lic. #233456 $$$