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Saturday, Jul. 25, 1998
Dow halts slide, edges back up 4.38 points
Stable pattern of day's trading persuades analyst, `The summer rally is not over'
By BRUCE MEYERSON
Associated PressNEW YORK -- Most stocks fell Friday, but with no major profit disappointments among the Dow industrials for the first time in days, the blue-chip sector halted a weeklong plunge from record levels.
The Dow Jones industrial average rose 4.38 points to 8,937.36, barely trimming this week's loss to 400.61 points.
Broader stock indicators were mixed, with declining issues outnumbering advancers overall and the technology-heavy Nasdaq market finishing slightly lower.
The Dow, which had closed at a record 9,337.97 just a week earlier, rose 65 points in the first half hour of trading amid some bargain-hunting among the markdowns created by Thursday's 195-point plunge.
Stocks also drew an early boost from news that Japan's ruling party had nominated Foreign Minister Keizo Obuchi to succeed Ryutaro Hashimoto as prime minister of that recession-plagued nation.
The morning advance quickly slowed, however, and the Dow sank nearly 70 points by early afternoon, dipping below 8,900 for the first time in a month, before turning higher again.
``Today has been good trading day. The market seemed to be relatively flat and stable, and that's a good indication of a short-term bottom being made,'' said Fred Meissner, a technical analyst at Robinson-Humphrey of Atlanta.
``The summer rally is not over,'' said Meissner. ``We've had some absolutely horrible news this week and the market has been resilient.''
Most notable about Friday's session was the absence of any bad profit news from any more of the 30 companies that comprise the Dow. The blue-chip barometer had been yanked lower repeatedly in recent days amid signs of profit troubles at Merck, Hewlett-Packard, DuPont and Boeing.
H-P and Boeing, as well as other big names that released earnings news this week, both pointed to the economic crisis in Asia as a continuing constraint on profits.
Most prominent among Friday's Dow gainers were Merck, up 2 7/16 to 125; General Electric, up 1 11/16 to 91 11/16; and Johnson & Johnson, up 1 9/16 to 76 9/16.
The Standard & Poor's 500 rose 1.05 to 1,140.80, but the Nasdaq composite index dropped 4.23 to 1,930.99, falling for a fourth straight day after a nine-session streak of record highs.
Decliners outnumbered advancers by a 5-to-3 margin on the New York Stock Exchange, where composite volume totaled 812.47 million shares, easing a bit from the hectic pace of the prior two sessions.
The NYSE composite index fell 0.36 to 576.32, the American Stock Exchange composite index fell 1.06 to 718.66.
The Russell 2000 index of smaller companies fell 3.75 to 435.58, sinking into negative territory for the year. About three months ago, on April 21, the Russell 2000 closed at a record 491.41.
Overseas, Tokyo's Nikkei stock average rose 1.1 percent, Frankfurt's DAX index fell 0.2 percent and London's FT-SE 100 fell 1.4 percent.Post your comments about local news eventsFront Page || Main Index || News || Business || Texas || South Texas Outdoors || Birdwatching || Sports || Entertainment || Selena || Education || South Texas Attractions || World Wide Web