Google stands out as investors hesitate

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 surpassed $500 for the first time.

Investors’ hesitation came after Wall Street snapped a six-session winning streak Monday, concerned that a recent run-up has driven some stocks too high.

No big moves were expected before Thanksgiving, although retailers remained in focus as Friday, one of the biggest shopping days of the year, approached.

But investors were enthusiastic about the nation’s No. 1 search engine. Google rallied more than 2% to a new record, hitting an intraday high of $509.88. Its shares have soared since the company priced its initial public offering at $85 a share in August 2004.

Boeing led the Dow Jones industrial average after the aerospace company received a $5.5-billion order for planes from Korean Air Lines.

Also, Medtronic, the biggest maker of heart defibrillators, advanced after it reported earnings late Monday that exceeded Wall Street projections.

“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,” said Scott Fullman, director of investment strategy for Hapoalim Securities USA.

The Dow edged up 5.05 points to 12,321.59.

Broader stock indicators also edged higher. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index was up 2.31 points, or 0.2%, at 1,402.81, and the Nasdaq composite index rose 2.12, or 0.1%, to 2,454.84.

With no major economic reports out Tuesday, the yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note slipped to 4.57% from 4.6% on Monday.

Crude oil futures moved higher, rising $1.37 to $60.17 on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Gold futures rose $7 an ounce to $628.20.

Choppy market conditions are common this time of year, said Richard Cripps, chief market strategist for Stifel Nicolaus, and investors should not count out big price moves with volume on the New York Stock Exchange about 10% 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 presents fresh opportunities. Friday will obviously be much less.”

Consolidated volume on the Big Board came to 2.62 billion shares, compared with 2.56 billion Monday and 2.72 billion on Friday.

During Tuesday’s session, advancing stocks led declining issues by about 3 to 2.

The stock markets will be closed Thursday and will open for a half session Friday, closing at 1 p.m. Eastern time. The markets will be on a regular schedule today.

In other market highlights:

* Google rose $14.60, or 3%, to $509.65, and is up 21% so far this year. Google’s market value is now $154 billion, exceeding that of big technology names such as Intel and Hewlett-Packard.

* Apple Computer rose to a record, climbing $2.13 to $88.60 as speculation mounted that the company would unveil an iPod-based phone next year.

* Boeing advanced after Korean Air ordered 25 passenger and freighter aircraft, giving the company one of its biggest orders this year and a victory over rival Airbus. Boeing’s stock rose $1.98, or 2.2%, to $91.10.

* NYSE Group, owner of the world’s biggest stock exchange, surged $9.28 to $104.60. The 9.7% increase was its steepest since going public in March. The move came after the U.S. attorney’s office in Manhattan dropped charges against five of six former NYSE specialists who had been accused of defrauding customers.

* Farm equipment maker Deere jumped $5.86 to a record $95.27 after saying profit last quarter increased 19% because of an unexpected rise in sales. Revenue of $5.12 billion surpassed the average analyst estimate of $4.79 billion in a Thomson Financial survey.

Caterpillar, the biggest maker of earthmoving equipment, added $1.28 to $62.19.

* Dell picked up 17 cents to close at $24.82 in the regular session. The world’s second-largest personal-computer maker then surged nearly 9% in after-hours trading after it reported better-than-expected third-quarter results. The company had delayed its earnings release last week because of an accounting probe.

* Medtronic was upgraded by a number of analysts after the medical device maker posted a quarterly profit that beat expectations. The company said it picked up market share from rivals, especially for heart-related devices that manage irregular heart rhythms. Its stock rose $4.60, or 9.4%, to $53.55.

* Juniper Networks jumped after JPMorgan raised its recommendation for the company. The analysts raised the maker of equipment that directs Internet traffic to “overweight” from “neutral,” pushing its shares up 94 cents to $21.42.

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Bloomberg News was used in compiling this report.

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Google tops $500 a share

Stock of Internet search giant Google on Tuesday closed above $500 for the first time - 27 months after the company went public at $85 a share. At $509.65, Google’s stock is a costly 49 times estimated 2006 earnings per share, compared with 17 times for the average blue-chip stock. But its valuation looks relatively tame compared with dot-com stocks in the late 1990s. Google now is the 14th-most valuable business in the S&P; 500 index.

Bigger than most, smaller than some

*--* Mkt. value Stock chng. Company (billions) YTD ExxonMobil $428 +31% General Electric 369 +2 Microsoft 294 +14 Wal-Mart 199 +2 Pfizer 194 +16 Google 156 +23 IBM 140 +13 Intel 124 -14 Coca-Cola 110 +17 Time Warner 84 +19 Walt Disney 69 +39 Yahoo 37 -31 General Motors 18 +68

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Sources: Bloomberg News and Thomson Financial