New York ? U.S. stocks rallied Wednesday, pushing the Dow Jones Industrial Average to a new closing high above the 12,500 mark, as unexpectedly robust housing sales data cheered investors making last-minute additions to their 2006 portfolios.

An above-forecast new home sales numbers for November “have some investors moving toward the opinion that the housing market may have bottomed out,” said Michael Sheldon, chief market strategist at Spencer Clarke. “This could lead to greater strength in the economy in 2007 than expected.”

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 102.94 points to 12,510.57, surpassing its December 19 prior closing high of 12,471, after breaking through the 12,500 level for the first time late in the session.

Among Dow components, Alcoa Inc. gained 2.2 percent, Citigroup Inc. rose 2.3 percent and Hewlett-Packard Co. also gained 1.6 percent.

Ford Motor Co. closed up 1.2 percent at $7.58, after Toyota Motor Co. confirmed that the two automakers conducted talks in Japan last week. Toyota shares rose 2 percent to $134.26.

Some media outlets speculated that Ford President and Chief Executive Alan Mulally – who grew up in Lawrence, and graduated from Lawrence High School and Kansas University – and Toyota Chairman Fujio Cho were discussing a possible tie-up between the troubled U.S. automaker and Toyota, which is on the verge of passing General Motors Corp. as the world’s top vehicle manufacturer by production volume.

General Motors Corp. also benefited from the enthusiasm for auto stocks, rising 2.8 percent to end at $30.59.

The S&P 500 gained 9.94 points to 1,426.84 as the Nasdaq Composite rose 17.71 points to 2,431.22.