Front Page || Main Index || Corpus Christi News || Business || Texas || Sports || Entertainment || Selena
Wednesday, Aug. 26, 1998
Dow up 36 points, but stronger rally falters
Traders' behavior points to nervousness and uncertainty about outlook, analyst says
By BRUCE MEYERSON
Associated PressNEW YORK -- Blue-chip stocks escaped with modest gains Tuesday, but only after a bigger rally unraveled as a long list of global worries proved too hard to ignore.
The Dow Jones industrial average closed just 36.04 higher at 8,602.65 as a late slide wiped out a 122-point gain and briefly pushed the blue-chip barometer into negative terrain.
The gain, combined with a 33-point advance on Monday, extended Friday's dramatic 200-point rebound from a nearly 300-point slide earlier that day, but barely trimmed the gap from July 17's record of 9,337.97.
Broader indexes also sputtered on Tuesday after a morning rally fueled by the technology and financial sectors, the two industries deemed most vulnerable to the global economic turmoil that keeps rattling the market.
The Standard & Poor's 500 rose 4.71 to 1,092.85 after retreating from an 18-point gain, and the technology-heavy Nasdaq composite index rose 7.35 to 1,798.17 after pulling back from a 27-point jump.
Declining issues outnumbered advancers by an 11-to-9 margin on the New York Stock Exchange despite trailing by a substantial margin in the morning.
``The way the market turned this afternoon highlights the nervousness and the fact that you have a very uncertain outlook going into September and October,'' said Ricky Harrington, a technical analyst at Interstate/Johnson Lane in Charlotte, N.C.
``The third- and fourth-quarter earnings projections are very positive, and anything that causes a downgrade to those forecasts is not going to be taken lightly,'' he said.
There were mixed signals Tuesday morning as to whether domestic business activity will remain vigorous enough to offset the economic slowdown overseas.
A national realty group reported that sales of existing single-family homes jumped 4 percent in July to 4.93 million units, surpassing the previous record set in March of 4.89 million.
But while robust home sales continue to fuel the economy with strong demand for building materials and furnishings, a separate report showed that consumer confidence fell for a second straight month in August as the fiscal crises in Asia and Russia roiled world financial markets repeatedly. Notably, however, the summer slide in confidence follows a 29-year high reached in June.
Although financial stocks led the early advance Tuesday, the Dow ultimately drew its biggest boost from consumer product companies considered least dependent on economic trends: Merck rose 2 to 133 and a half, and Procter & Gamble rose 2 to 82 13/16. J.P. Morgan, the early leader with a 4-point gain, finished 1 higher at 120.
Among the major Nasdaq technology names, Dell rose 4 to 124, and Microsoft rose 2 7/16 to 112 13/16.
In other trading Thursday, the NYSE composite index rose 1.29 to 545.01, but the Russell 2000 index of smaller companies fell 3.93 to 389.77 and the small-company dominated American Stock Exchange composite index fell 2.46 to 646.86.
NYSE compoiste volume totaled 813.40 million shares, up from 670.34 million on Monday.
Overseas, Tokyo's Nikkei stock average rose 0.6 percent, Frankfurt's DAX index rose 2.6 percent and London's FT-SE 100 rose 1.8 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