Business

No Friday 13K for the Dow

Talk about flirting.

The Dow Jones industrial average surged past the 13,000 level eight times yesterday — only to stumble each time, foiling the celebration of traders and investors.

The Dow’s dance near the 13,000-point plateau marked the second session in the last week where the closely-watched index slipped over the psychological mark — above which it has not closed since May 2008.

“We’re grinding higher, but it doesn’t seem like there’s a whole lot of conviction on either side,” said portfolio chief Brian Lazorishak at Chase Investment Counsel.

Some pundits pondered whether it could be a superstitious Wall Street’s bout of triskaidekaphobia — the fear of the numeral 13. Of course, the intra-day rises and pullbacks could also be caused by fears that rising gas prices will force shut the family purse strings.

“Energy prices are getting to the level where you would expect to start to see consumer spending slow,” Barry Knapp, head of equity strategy at Barclays Capital, told Bloomberg TV.

The Dow closed the week at 12,982.95.

The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index gained 0.2 percent yesterday to hit 1,365.74, its best close since June 2008 just ahead of the collapse of Lehman Brothers.

The S&P is ahead 8.6 percent this year — outperforming the Dow’s 6.3 percent advance. The tech-heavy Nasdaq is up 13.8 percent for the year, gaining 0.2 percent yesterday to 2,963.75.

Oil prices rose for a seventh straight day, advancing 1.8 percent to $109.77 The average price of a gallon of gas rose 2 1/2 cents yesterday from the prior day — pushing the average price of gas in New York to $3.91, according to the AAA.