Stocks extend gains with modest buying after rally

NEW YORK -- The stock market gingerly extended its gains to a fourth day with little of the fanfare seen over the past week.

A positive report Tuesday on pending home sales provided enough encouragement for investors to carefully add to their holdings, but there was none of the heavy buying that marked trading over over the past several days.

The Dow Jones industrial average briefly pushed into the black for 2009, but finished about 36 points below the break-even mark.

A slump in financial shares kept overall buying in check as several big banks said they would sell more stock to repay federal bailout money.

The Dow is up 19 at 8,740.63. The Standard & Poor's 500 index is up 2 at 945. The Nasdaq composite index is up 8 at 1,837.