NEW YORK (AP) - Investors brushed off early jitters about a potential slowdown in China and pushed the Dow to its highest close of the year. The Dow Jones industrial average rose 38.16 points, or 0.3 percent, to 14,127.82. The index is a fraction of a percentage point away from its record close of 14,164, reached on Oct. 9, 2007. Stocks dropped at the opening bell and stayed lower most of the morning amid concern that new steps introduced by the Chinese government to cool the booming housing market in the world's second-largest economy. Chinese markets were dragged down by housing stocks, which fell sharply after the country's cabinet ordered new measures to rein in home prices. "The U.S. market continues to digest the negative news and hang tough," said Ryan Detrick, a senior strategist at Schaeffer's Investment Research. The Dow has risen 7.8 percent so far this year and the S&P 500 index is 6.9 percent higher, while the yield on the 10-year Treasury note remains below 2 percent. In other trading, the Standard & Poor's 500 rose 7 points, or 0.5 percent, to 1,525.20. The Nasdaq composite gained 12.29 points, or 0.4 percent, to 3,182.03. Gold, silver and copper were virtually flat. Gold for April delivery rose 10 cents to $1,572.40 per ounce. May silver edged up less than 1 cent to $28.496 per ounce Select Comfort, a manufacturer of specialty mattresses, fell $3.23, or 15.7 percent, to $17.28 after the company warned that it will likely fall short of its first-quarter goals as a result of lower-than-expected sales. Hess gained $2.30, or 3.5 percent, to $68.84 after the company said it would get out of the retail business as well as energy trading and marketing to focus on exploration and production. Yahoo! rose 76 cents, or 3.5 percent, to $22.70 after Barclays analysts raised their rating on the stock to "overweight" and increased their price target to $26. Apple fell $10.40, or 2.4 percent, to $420. The stock has now fallen 12 out the last 14 trading days and is trading at its lowest in a year. Stratasys Ltd., a maker of three-dimensional "printers," gained $4.56, or 7.1 percent, to $68.82 after its latest results beat analysts' expectations for the quarter. The company issued a full-year sales forecast that was higher than analysts were expecting.