It's Official!: Dow Closes at All-Time High

Finishing at 11,709 for its highest close ever, the Dow Jones Industrial Average led a bullish rally on Wall Street on September 28th. Analysts point to high industrial growth performance and lower energy costs as key figures in the positive U.S. stock market.

How this fits in with the Federal Reserve's opinion of a slowing economy and curtailed inflation remains to be seen. Some leading economists fear a 'bumpy landing' when growth calms, pointing to negative trends in highly industrial sectors such as housing and automotive production.

With disagreement among the experts, the most salient comment may have come from Wachovia's chief economist John Silvia: "At this phase in the cycle you get a lot of conflicting pieces of information."

With the end of September nearly upon us, some experts are eager to jump the gun on the famed 'Halloween indicator' - the notion that the end of October predicts the year's result as a whole - and speak of either optimism or recession.

The NASDAQ, S&P 500 and NYSE aggregate charts all posted gains at the end of the historic trading day.