Dow Rises 838.08 for Quarter

Blue Chips Gain 11% as Risk Aversion Wanes and Credit Markets Thaw

Stocks have just posted their best quarter since 2003, but many investors remain wary.

The broad stock market goes into midyear holding onto the bulk of a powerful rally that left the Dow Jones Industrial Average up 29% from the 12-year low hit on March 9 and gave the index its first quarterly gain in over a year and a half. Yet it spent only one day during the quarter in positive territory for the year.

The Dow closed the second quarter at 8447, up 11%, or 838.08 points, for the last three months but down 3.8% for the year. ...