Falling crude oil prices and an increase in new home sales had helped investors shrug off a weak durable goods report earlier in the session.

"I think most of the activity is this push to make a close at all-time highs," Ryan Larson, senior equity trader at Voyageur Asset Management, said of much of today's early movement. He contends that the early expectation of surpassing the record drove stocks and that later investors were unsettled in part by the rise in oil prices.

"I think it was a little bit exhausted," he said of the idea of a record-breaking day. He said, however, that the market's gains shouldn't be ignored and that optimism remains.

According to preliminary calculations, the Dow closed up 20.65, or 0.18 percent, at 11,690.04, after coming just 2.21 points away from its best-ever close of 11,722.98, set in January 2000.

Broader stock indicators also moved higher. The Standard & Poor's 500 index rose 0.25, or 0.02 percent, to 1,336.59, and the Nasdaq composite index advanced 2.05, or 0.09 percent, to 2,263.89.

The Commerce Department said today orders to U.S. factories for large manufactured goods fell for a second straight month in August, the first time in more than two years there have been consecutive declines. Demand for durable goods dropped 0.5 percent last month to $209.7 billion.