Dow turns best third quarter in 11 years!

NEW YORK-- U.S. stocks closed lower on the day Friday, although the major averages logged solid quarterly gains due in large part to lower oil prices, allowing the Dow Jones Industrial Average to give its best third-quarter performance in 11 years.
A string of economic reports over the last three months also helped investors rally to the idea that U.S. economic growth will moderate, but remain at adequate levels to sustain corporate profits and job creation.
The Dow industrials ($INDU : Dow Jones Industrial Average News , chart, profile, more
Last: 11,679.07-39.38-0.34% closed down 39.38 points at 11,679.07.

On several occasions in Friday's the session, the benchmark index topped its record-high close of 11,722.98 from Jan. 14, 2000. The Dow's intraday record, set that same day, remains 11,750.28.
The Nasdaq Composite Index ($COMPQ : Nasdaq Composite Index fell 11.59 points to 2,258.43 while the S&P 500 Index ($SPX : S&P 500 Index
$SPX1,335.85, -3.30, -0.2%) lost 3.30 points to end at 1,335.85.
For the quarter the Dow gained 4.7%, its strongest advance since the third quarter of 1995.

The Nasdaq rose 4% in the quarter, making for its best third-quarter performance since 2003. The S&P 500 advanced 5.2% in the quarter.
"The gains we've seen derive from the conclusion that the economy is slowing, but not contracting or turning lower but there is not a high level of certainty in that conclusion. That's why the market is inching higher rather than striding higher," said Hugh Johnson, chairman of Johnson Illington Advisors.
Johnson said the quarter has been helped by a sharp fall in energy prices that has helped offset some of the concern over a slowing housing market and its impact on economic growth.
At the end of the third quarter, General Motors Corp. (GM : General Motors Corporation remains the top performer on the Dow since the beginning of 2006, with a staggering 70% gain. It places the car maker well above the No. 2 and 3 gainers, drug company Merck & Co. both of which are up about 32%.