Dow Breaks 13,000 In Record Close

The Dow Jones surged to a record close this afternoon, riding better-than-expected durable good orders in March and soaring profits from online bellweather Amazon to close just past 13,000. News that Alcoa was exploring plans to sell its packaging and consumer business also buoyed shareholders.

But market watchers hastened to point out that the record says little about the economy's underlying health. "it defies a lot of the negatives," the chief market economist at Avalon Partners told MarketWatch, "such as oil prices near $66, weakness in the dollar and economic data that points to moderate growth." (More Dow Jones stories.)